Bunjil Holistic Health

What is it?

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) also known as benign prostate hypertrophy or prostate enlargement is the non-cancerous enlargement of the male prostate gland that becomes more common as men age. This enlargement is often a slow process and this often leads to symptoms slowly developing/worsening over time as more pressure is put on the urethra (Ng & Baradhi, 2022).

The exact cause of BPH is unknown but age/family history are often associated risk factor along with altered hormone levels, systemic inflammation, immune dysregulation and metabolic factors. Metabolic factors include conditions such as diabetes, dyslipidemia, metabolic syndrome and obesity (Madersbacher et al., 2019).

What to look out for:

Storage symptoms; increased urination frequency, nocturia (nighttime urination), increased urgency, incontinence and bladder pain.

Voiding symptoms; hesitancy, straining, weak stream, intermittency, dysuria (painful urination) and terminal dribbling (continued dribbling after urination).  

Post void symptoms; feeling of incomplete emptying and terminal dribbling.

These symptoms are common in those with BPH but can be suffered in other conditions or can be non-existent in those with BPH. Therefore, it is important to get check ups often if you have any of the above risk factors (Bhat et al., 2022).

How can Naturopathy help?

One of the best way naturopathic practices can help is working towards prevention of conditions in the first place. This can include removing inflammatory agent from the diet, such as alcohol, refined foods and sugars. Working towards support metabolic factors such as improving metabolic profile, supporting weight management and supporting metabolic syndromes.

A large part of prevention is making changes to diet and lifestyle to support or prevent the risk factors of BPH. The Mediterranean diet is a diet that has had a lot of hype and raving for the past few years for good reason. It’s a diet high in fruits/vegetables, wholegrains, omega 3 and legume, all of which are associated with a range of health benefits. This includes a lot of the risk factors for BPH such as metabolic factors and inflammation. It can be a simple starting point for the prevention of prostatic conditions (Guasch‐Ferré & Willett, 2021; Russo et al., 2021).

More direct interventions can involve researched herbal interventions and nutraceutical interventions that will support the prostate directly, the urinary system, immune function, reduce inflammation, support metabolic function and support hormonal regulation (Csikós et al., 2021). Each persons needs would need to be assessed and suggestion would be made based on over needs.  

References

Bhat, S. A., Rather, S. A., & Islam, N. (2022). An overview of benign prostatic hyperplasia and its appreciation in Greco-Arab (Unani) system of medicine. Asian Journal of Urology, 9(2), 109–118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajur.2021.05.008

Csikós, E., Horváth, A., Ács, K., Papp, N., Balázs, V. L., Dolenc, M. S., Kenda, M., Kočevar Glavač, N., Nagy, M., Protti, M., Mercolini, L., Horváth, G., Farkas, Á., & on behalf of the OEMONOM. (2021). Treatment of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia by Natural Drugs. Molecules, 26(23), 7141. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26237141

Guasch‐Ferré, M., & Willett, W. C. (2021). The Mediterranean diet and health: A comprehensive overview. Journal of Internal Medicine, 290(3), 549–566. https://doi.org/10.1111/joim.13333

Madersbacher, S., Sampson, N., & Culig, Z. (2019). Pathophysiology of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia and Benign Prostatic Enlargement: A Mini-Review. Gerontology, 65(5), 458–464. https://doi.org/10.1159/000496289

Ng, M., & Baradhi, K. M. (2022). Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK558920/

Russo, G., Broggi, G., Cocci, A., Capogrosso, P., Falcone, M., Sokolakis, I., Gül, M., Caltabiano, R., & Di Mauro, M. (2021). Relationship between Dietary Patterns with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia and Erectile Dysfunction: A Collaborative Review. Nutrients, 13(11), 4148. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13114148