Health

Am I going to get cancer?

My father died of prostate cancer and I’ve heard it may be hereditary. Am I likely to go the same way?
B Carroll, by email

Let’s not mess around: you are at greater risk of getting the disease if it has occurred in your family. However, it isn’t set in stone. How likely a man is to die from prostate cancer depends on several factors. What type of prostate cancer did your father have? Was it diagnosed early or had it spread? How old were any male relatives with prostate cancer when they died? It’s most significant if your dad was under 65 when diagnosed. Most men with early prostate cancer live a long time after diagnosis and die of something else.

While you can’t prevent prostate cancer, there are things you can do to reduce the risk. These include eating a low-fat diet and eating lots of selenium, vitamin E and lycopene. Lycopene levels are particularly high in cooked tomato-based products, such as ketchup.

Even better news comes from a study that suggested men who masturbate regularly – ejaculating more than five times a week – were a third less likely to develop prostate cancer. Which, even if it isn’t true, is probably worth a punt.