Diet for prostatitis

Diet should be one of the cornerstones of treatment for chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS). Examining your diet is part of a whole-body approach to your health, especially since many causes of CP/CPPS and pelvic tension stem from problems that take place outside of the prostate. Certain foods and allergies to foods can create reactions in your body in the form of inflammation, and this can contribute to pelvic tension and pain. That is why looking at diet when diagnosing and treating CP/CPPS can help to eliminate inflammation.

Diet for prostatitis is part of the NPAT treatment program for CP/CPPS. NPAT stands for:

Natural treatments (ALCAT, elimination diets, and wheat-free diets)
Phytotherapy (pollen and quercetin together with probiotics)
Alternative Treatments (acupuncture, prostate massage, pelvic rehabilitation and therapy)
Total body (exercise, chronic stress management, lifestyle)
It is important for you to figure out and avoid foods that can exacerbate your symptoms. Common foods that have been found to exacerbate prostatitis symptoms include the following:

Spicy foods
Hot peppers
Alcoholic beverages
Acidic foods
Wheat
Gluten
Caffeine
Hot peppers derive their spiciness from capsaicin, which can increase rectal sensitivity in people with irritable bowel syndrome, a condition frequently found in men with CP/CPPS. Read more on Foods to Avoid.

Bowel health and prostatitis seem to be connected. That is why eating foods containing probiotics or taking quality probiotic supplements is part of a healthy diet for prostatitis. Probiotics are the beneficial, or helpful, gut microflora and include bacteria that normally reside in balance with other bacteria in the intestinal tract.

Other dietary causes of prostatitis could be related to a zinc deficiency or environmental pollutants like BPA (bisphenol-A), an ingredient in many plastic products and food containers such as canned foods, that seeps into the food supply.

Food intolerance or food allergies can also contribute to prostatitis. The symptoms of a food intolerance or allergy may include vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, or abdominal pain. If you have a food intolerance you may also experience gas, bloating, headache, cramps, irritability, and nervousness. A food allergy is an immune system response, and the symptoms generally can affect the entire body. In addition to the symptoms already named, a food allergy can cause hives, itchy skin, shortness of breath, a sudden drop in blood pressure, and difficulty swallowing. Food intolerance symptoms can be uncomfortable, but food allergy symptoms can be life threatening.

It can be challenging to identify an allergy or food intolerance. You may not react to a particular food for a few hours or even days. Your reaction may be a worsening of prostatitis symptoms instead of the common symptoms you would associate with an intolerance or allergy.

If you think that a food allergy or intolerance could be contributing to your prostatitis symptoms, try an elimination diet or consider undergoing allergy testing. Some tests like the ALCAT test do throw out false positives and can be costly, so trying an elimination diet might be a good start.

Many men find that going on a wheat-free diet or trying a gluten-free diet can help them manage their prostatitis symptoms. Wheat and a protein in wheat called gluten can cause inflammation, which can damage the body and cause illness. A gluten-free diet avoids barley, malt, triticale, and wheat.

In general, it is important to eat a healthy diet as part of managing your prostatitis. Avoid foods that commonly are associated with triggering prostatitis and try to include plenty of whole and natural foods such as the following:

Vegetables, especially cruciferous vegetables
Fruits (but avoid acidic fruits if they affect your prostatitis)
High-quality protein (plant protein is better than animal)
Foods high in zinc or zinc supplements
Omega-3 fatty acids and healthy fats found in the Mediterranean diet
Foods high in fiber
Following the Mediterranean diet can help you reduce inflammation in your body. Reduce the red meat you eat and instead opt for fish, beans, lentils, and nuts, which are all low in saturated fat and cholesterol. Eat foods high in zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, and lycopene, but if acidic tomatoes or fruits are a problem for your prostate try eliminating them. It is important to stay well hydrated with water, but you should avoid drinks like soda and caffeinated coffee or tea, which have been shown to exacerbate prostatitis symptoms. You should also limit or avoid alcohol, which can make symptoms worse.

Studies have shown that certain foods may help improve prostatitis symptoms.. Foods and supplements that may help with prostate and urinary health include the following:

Calcium glycerophosphate (neutralizes acidic foods)
Docusate (softens stools)
Psyllium (fiber), polycarbophil (laxative)
Water
Baking soda
As you can see, some of the things that have helped prostatitis patients in studies also affect bowel health, which is why daily use of probiotics is also key when considering diet for prostatitis. By getting your diet under control and eliminating foods that could be causing your prostatitis symptoms, you are going to feel a lot better as a whole.

Editor’s comment:
Generally following a diet like the Mediterranean diet will help reduce inflammation and promote healthy bacteria and immunity. The Mediterranean diet also has many other benefits for heart, prostate, and general health. Try and limit alcohol to 1-2 glasses a day. Any more than that has been shown to negatively affect prostate health. Eat organic as much as possible within your budget. Make it a point of getting regular exercise to keep your weight under control as that will also help reduce inflammation.

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Dealing with the Pain of Prostatitis
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Diet for Prostatitis
Products and Devices to Help With Prostatitis
Wheat-Free Diet for Prostatitis
Foods to Avoid for Prostatitis
Chemicals That Can Cause Prostatitis

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On Friday, December 9, 2016 at 8:38:06 AM UTC-6, ⊙＿⊙ wrote:
> Drainage In Prostatitis
>
>
> The Prostatitis Foundation
>
> http://prostatitis.org/drainage.html
>
> Causes of prostatitis
>
> Drainage in Prostatitis
>
> Methods of treatment
>
> It works for me
>
> The role of 'Drainage' in treating Prostatitis
> Cautionary note: This page does not express anything like a "scientific fact." It expresses, mostly, the opinion of the webmaster after three years' involvement in discussions about prostatitis.
> Also see a file on Contraindications to Drainage, or another file about do-it-yourself drainage
> 1-03-2010
> Chronic Bacterial Prostatitis - Message from Doctor Polacheck
> For the past 12 years, I have been studying the cause of Chronic Prostatitis. Symptomatic patients have come to our Center from all 50 States of the United States, as well as from the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Pacific and Australia seeking a diagnosis (and then treatment). In order to make a specific etiologic diagnosis, a vigorous prostate massage was done daily for one week. The expressed prostatic secretions (EPS) were collected and cultured for bacteria and bacteria-like organisms. I would like to report the results from 600 consecutive patients: over 99 percent were found to have a bacteria or a bacteria-like organism, and many patients had multiple organisms. Therefore, this disorder should be properly called: Chronic Bacterial Prostatitis.
> On the other hand, read one man's testimonial on drainage.
> If a comedian ever mentions the prostate gland, it is usually in reference to the dreaded "DRE," or Digital Rectal Exam, where the doctor puts his gloved finger in a man's rectum to check out the health of his prostate gland. It's a basic part of a physical exam for men over 40, and comics act like it's the end of the world.
> Drainage can help with symptoms even if bacterial infection is not a problem. The dreaded DRE, however, is a basic step to eliminating bacterial infections of the prostate. Infection may be a major factor, if not the sole cause, in many cases of prostatitis, even if cursory culturing does not show bacteria.
> A very firm DRE, done with the intention of draining, or wringing out the prostate gland, we call "Drainage." Drainage has the effect of getting rid of built-up pus and dead cells, and shrinking the gland, relieving symptoms. Leakage of these "caustic contents" of the prostatic acini may be one cause of some of the sytmpoms of prostatitis. Drainage gets rid of the caustic contents, and causes the gland to refill with blood, helping antibiotics reach disease organisms. It can shrink the gland to the extent that symptoms go away, at least for a while.
> It used to be, in the age before antibiotics (before about 1960 for prostatitis), doctors performed drainage, sometimes called "massage," when their patients had prostatitis. In some cases it was enough to cure them of the disease. But since drainage is always at least uncomfortable for the patient, and usually at least slightly embarrassing for both doctor and patient, and time consuming, it fell out of common practice with the advent of antibiotics. It's much easier to prescribe a pill and send the patient home.
> There's another aspect of drainage that bears consideration. Some people's symptoms may be caused or aggravated by muscle tension or undesireable nervous system responses. One of the therapies for this includes pressing on pressure points within the pelvic area that are reached in the same way the prostate is reached during drainage, in other words, rectally. It has been suggested that some of the reported benefit of drainage is because of this stimulus. For more on this theory, see the muscle tension page and refer to the links in the left column of that page.
> Your prostate gland is a complex structure of tiny acini, or sacs, in which bacteria can grow. Once they grow there, the swelling and inflammation caused by the infection closes off the sac, causing it not to "shed" bacteria, and protecting the bacteria inside from antibiotics and your body's own immune cells. (For more on this, see biofilms.html .) As more and more acini get closed off, your prostate begins to swell and interferes with your other normal urinary and sexual functions. Even if you don't currently have an infection, your body's immune system can cause your acini to clog and swell.
> A few points about drainage:
> Drainage can be painful, especially when it is done for the first time. It is never comfortable.
> Drainage can become less painful and less uncomfortable the more often it is done.
> If you are doing drainage with antibiotics, doing it at least three times a week is optimal. Any amount of drainage can help, however.
> Drainage can be done by anybody. You don't need a doctor. You can have your partner or another person do drainage for you, as long as that person wears non-latex gloves and uses a safe lubricant. If you are long-armed and supple, you can even drain yourself. This website has do-it-yourself instructions and comments on non-doctor drainage.
> Drainage should only be done by a human finger. Objects are bad for drainage because there is no "feel." Some people, however, do drainage with objects and don't hurt themselves. We recommend against this.
> Drainage should not cause any harm to you. (See the cautionary note about epidydimitis patients.) After initial drainages, you may experience more burning than you had just before, because the stuff that comes out of the clogged acini is caustic. This side-effect will improve if you continue draining. Of course the person doing the drainage should have very short fingernails.
> Drainage is essential to getting a good lab test to discover what bacteria you have. Without drainage, you may not find any bacteria. Of course there could be no bacteria there to find...
> Comedians will still make fun of the DRE. We can laugh too. But for those of us who suffer from prostatitis, drainage can be a valuable tool.
> I wish you the best of health, and the best of medical care.
> Ken Smith
> ..........................................................................................
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