GLUTATHIONE in the Human Male

PROSTATE PROBLEMS Of the hundreds of animal species with a prostate gland, only humans and dogs are known to suffer from prostate cancer and prostatic hyperplasia (an overgrowth of prostate tissue). The prostate is a walnut-sized gland that surrounds the urethra, the tube that drains the bladder through the penis (see figure 41). It is responsible for the production of fluid that car-ries the sperm when ejaculating. Other prostate problems include

infection—both acute and chronic prostatitis. The majority of men will have some sort of prostate problem in their lifetimes. PROSTATIC HYPERTROPHY (ENLARGED PROSTATE GLAND) Not all prostate enlargement is cancerous. In fact most enlarged prostates are benign. Hypertrophy of the prostate is caused by an enlargement of the cells in the gland, unlike cancer, which is enlargement caused by an increase in the number of cells. This condition is age related and increases from an incidence of 8% in 3o to 4o year olds, to over 8o% in men over 80. Enlargement of the gland often leads to impaired flow from the bladder. Symptoms are frequent and difficult urination, a weak urinary stream, straining, dribbling, incomplete emptying and recurrent urine infections.

Traditional treatments include surgical removal of all or part of the pros-tate, widening of the urethral passage by such means as scraping or laser surgery, and a number of drugs that either relax the muscles at the neck of the bladder or actually shrink the prostate. Saw palmetto is an herbal therapy that is greatly valued by alternative practitioners and is now also gaining acceptance by conventional doctors as an adjunct to shrink prostate tissues. In prostatic hypertrophy and prostate cancer the prostate overgrows for several reasons. Male hormones (androgens) have considerable influence on this growth. Physicians may prescribe anti-androgens as an antidote.

Researchers have found that abnormal growth in these tissues often cor-responds to deficiencies in glutathione enzymes. One is glutathione S-transferase, which has several sub-types. The balance of these sub-types varies from normal prostate tissue to hypertrophic prostates to cancerous prostates. Several researchers propose that deficiencies in this GS H enzyme system increase the likelihood of developing both an enlarged prostate and prostate cancer.

Well-known nutritional specialist Bonnie Liebman writes about "Death, taxes... and prostate cancer...," a poignant comment on the prevalence of prostate cancer in our population. When researchers include in their statistics individuals with pre-cancerous cells, they claim that more than three-quarters of men over the age of 8o show evidence of cancer in their prostate glands. Some scientists are of the opinion that if a man lives long enough, he will eventually get prostate cancer. By this definition, prostate cancer would certainly be a disease of aging (see chapter 6).

Nevertheless, the vast majority of men easily outlive prostate cancer. Many may not even suffer significant symptoms. Although the average age at which men are diagnosed is 72, it is usually with a slow-growing tumor that may even have begun thirty or forty years earlier. It is by far the most common type of cancer to occur in men, but death by prostate cancer is less frequent than death by either lung cancer or cancer of the colon, the two most frequent cancer killers.

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