In this video, Dr. Berg discusses what the most important nutrient is to support a healthy prostate. Dr. Berg is a chiropractor who specializes in Healthy Ketosis & Intermittent Fasting. He is the author of the best-selling book The Healthy Keto Plan, and is the Director of Dr. Berg Nutritionals. He no longer practices, but focuses on health education through social media.
Video Transcript:
Well, today I have a very interesting video on the prostate and the most important nutrient to maintain prostate health. Now this topic was inspired by my new favorite book called Soil, Grass, and Cancer.
Okay. This is a book that I found. It was very expensive. It’s basically $250. I couldn’t find any used books, but it’s filled with nutritional information that’s just fascinating and each chapter is very, very different.
So the last chapter was on insulin, which I did a video on that. And then this one was on the relationship between zinc and the prostate gland. There’s some great data I want to share with you.
I think the first thing to talk about is this big confusion of what the prostate gland is. Very few people know what the prostate gland does. All they know is that as you get older and enlarges, and then it affects your urination.
50% of men over the age of 60 start to get an enlargement of the prostate gland. So what we do know is, as you age, the prostate gets larger and that can affect urination, stream flow, libido, retention of urine and your bladder, backup of urine in the kidney. And so I think it’s important to understand a little bit about the prostate in identifying why this occurs.
I mean it’s kind of weird that as men age, a high high percentage of them start developing prostate problems and then, as it gets bigger, you’re more at risk of getting prostate cancer. But just because the prostate enlarges doesn’t mean that’s cancer.
So, let’s first start with where the prostate is located. There’s a little bone in the front part of your pelvis called the symphysis pubis and the prostate is right behind that bone. Okay and then the prostate also is just underneath the bladder. And there’s a little tube that comes down from the bladder that this prostate wraps around and the size of the prostate would be about equivalent to a walnut size. So it’s not that big, but it can get quite big and then you have the rectum, which is right behind that.
So that’s where it’s located, but what does it do? The prostate is about 70% gland and 30% muscle. So, it does two things. It helps you secrete a certain fluid, which I’m going to talk about, and it also acts as a pump during ejaculation. So it helps push this fluid through the tube, which is the same tube as where your urine goes through and then out of the body.
Now, sperm is created in the testicles, okay, and it takes roughly about 60 to 70 days for sperm to develop. So the sperm travels through this little tube up into the area of the prostate, where you have additional glands that produce fluid with the fluids of the prostate gland all mixing together into what’s called semen.
And so the purpose of semen is to fertilize sperm. And sperm is basically just the genetics from a male body which is then going to join with the genetics of the ovary to form a human body. So to do that, you need something to feed the sperm which is fructose from the semen. You need certain enzymes to help penetrate into the uterus lining, because there’s mucus there and a lot of other factors to keep this sperm fertile. And the sperm outside the body can last roughly about five days. So, on the other end in the female, you have this egg, which is inactive and it becomes active once the sperm penetrates.
So that’s a summary of what the prostate does in relationship to these other factors.
Now, what’s interesting about the prostate gland in relationship to nutrition, is that it is the gland that has the highest concentration of zinc. So the prostate has a hundred times more concentration of zinc than your blood, because if you test your blood and it’s normal with zinc, it might not tell you what’s going on inside the prostate gland.
So in this book I want to mention a couple little points. He’s talking about the relationship between a zinc deficiency and what happens with the prostate gland. It actually enlarges. There is a study done and I will put some links down below that shows a normal prostate and the level of zinc that’s in it. It’s like 744 micrograms, and then you have a mild, hypertrophy or enlarged, prostate gland that had a lesser amount of zinc which is 486 micrograms. Then they tested people with chronic prostatitis, and that was at 470 micrograms. Now remember, this is all compared to a normal prostate gland which has 744 micrograms. And then he talks about prostate and the cancer related to zinc. Apparently, that level was actually on average 273 micrograms of zinc.
So we have this relationship between a zinc deficiency and inflammation in the prostate gland, enlargement of the prostate gland, and susceptibility to getting prostate cancer. Very, very interesting.
The other point I want to bring up about this is that you have a very powerful form of testosterone called DHT. So testosterone can convert to DHT with a certain enzyme: okay and that’s called 5-alpha reductase, and so there are certain medications that inhibit that enzyme to help reduce DHT for male pattern baldness, prostate hypertrophy, erectile dysfunction because too much of that hormone DHT can create bad effects. But what’s interesting about that is zinc is a natural inhibitor of that enzyme. Fascinating, and we also know that people with low testosterone are usually zinc deficient.
So zinc is the most important trace mineral to make sure your testosterone is high, make sure that the fertility of sperm is there, and to make sure that the size of the prostate is maintained. Now it’s going to get more interesting.
Why would someone be deficient in zinc? That’s the big question.
Okay, I’m going to go through the reasons. They don’t consume enough red meat. Now think about this. What is the big push now with especially men as they get over the age of 50? Don’t consume red meat. Red meat is bad. Well, they never differentiate the quality of red meat. Okay, they lump red meat into one group. They don’t differentiate between processed meats and grass-fed organic. They just lump it into one big concept and tell you to get off red meat, and they tell you to lower your cholesterol foods which happen to be the building block of testosterone. And then what do they tell you to eat? Eat plant-based, make sure you’re eating enough whole grains, which is loaded with phytic acid, probably the biggest thing that blocks your ability to absorb zinc.
In fact, two billion people on this planet are deficient in zinc. Probably because they’re consuming too much cereal and too many grains. Okay. Now the other interesting thing about aging is that when you age, you lose the concentration of stomach acids and we need stomach acid to be able to absorb this zinc.
If you have low stomach acids, you’re not going to absorb zinc. Not to mention if you’re taking an antacid you’re going to be deficient in zinc. If you’re taking a diuretic, that medication will deplete you of zinc. If you’re taking statins, you’ll have significant zinc deficiencies. Alcohol is another common thing that will cause a zinc deficiency. Consuming a lot of sugar will cause a zinc deficiency. Eating frequent meals like in snacking late at night, while you’re watching the TV, creates insulin resistance which can also deplete zinc.
And so I’m trying to prove a point here. If you’re not consuming enough zinc, that’s going to affect your libido, your testosterone, sperm count, the size of your prostate, and eventually your urine flow.
One of the best sources of zinc is shellfish, as in oysters, but the second best source is red meat. And to be totally transparent, I do have a zinc product. It’s my trace minerals product, but I’m going to tell you right now, taking zinc is not going to guarantee any type of cure for enlarged prostate, lower testosterone, reducing your risk of prostate cancer, or anything related to any medical condition, because there are a lot of other factors involved. Your diet, how much alcohol you drink, how much stress you go through, and a lot of other factors related to your medications, etc, etc.
All right so now that you know a little bit more about the relationship between zinc and your prostate. I wanted you to watch this next video on zinc, which is quite interesting check. It out.
