Jim: My name is Jim Korzack, and I live in Massachusetts. My question is, what are the symptoms of prostate and colon cancer, and are there any preventative measures that can be taken to prevent them?
Christopher Saigal: Well, it's a pretty broad topic Jim. It is a good question. In terms of prostate cancer, luckily with screening efforts these days, there is blood test, like the PSA test and rectal examinations, we are finding more and more prostate cancers at the asymptomatic stage.
In advanced cases, men may have problems emptying their bladder. They may have bone pain, weight loss. However, those are relatively rare ways prostate cancer shows up these days.
In terms of signs of colon cancer, bleeding from the rectum and the stool, difficulty emptying the bowels, those are some things that can occur when you have colon cancer. Although those are pretty common symptoms, and quite often they are not caused by colon cancer; if you do have those symptoms, you should see your physician.
In terms of measures to prevent prostate cancer, there is a medication, Finasteride, which has been shown to reduce the risk of prostate cancer. It also actually encourages growth of hair on the scalp, which is a side benefit.
We know that eating a low-fat diet, the diet that's high in soy proteins and high in fiber can also reduce your risk of prostate cancer.
Colon cancer, also diet is very important, a high fiber diet that's low in fat.
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