March is National Nutrition Month! Let's celebrate by focusing on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits. We invite older men experiencing BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia), which is a condition of prostate enlargement associated with urinary symptoms, to participate in nutrition month for the benefit of managing their BPH symptoms.

Eating right is beneficial in reducing the daily negative impact of many disease states, including BPH. You are also reducing the risk of developing many disease states in the first place when you choose to eat healthy. It is best to talk with your doctor about what healthy eating looks like for you. This is because some patients may have an intolerance or allergy to certain foods and ingredients. Patients may also have a dietary restriction based on a religious, lifestyle belief, or comorbidity so doctors, dietitians and nutritionists may work with patients to develop a suitable eating plan that matches their lifestyle, budget, medications, condition, etc.

What might be right for you might not be right for another patient, so it is important to be aware of your own condition and seek and share information responsibly. For example, a man with BPH may need to reduce or avoid spicy foods to avoid irritating an already overactive bladder. They may also need to decrease or avoid caffeine, tea and other diuretics to better manage their urinary frequency. Drinking water during the day, while it might sound counter-intuitive for a man who has frequent bathroom trips, can help make the urine in the bladder less thick and reduce irritation and discomfort. Some beneficial foods may include soy, pumpkin, tomatoes, and herbs like astragalus. This will all depend, however, on the doctor's recommendations based on the individual's situation as there is no one size fits all solution to health and nutrition when managing disease states like BPH.

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