Macho men’s medical dilemmas

Celebrity chef Brian Turner this week teamed up with Prostate UK at the BAUS (British Association of Urological Surgeons) annual conference in Glasgow to highlight how up to 10,000 thousand male lives in the UK could be saved every year if men only overcame their male pride, booked themselves a simple medical check up and made some important changes in their diet to prevent the on-set of prostate cancer.

A new report revealed at the conference shows that despite the fact that 9 out of 10 men know where their prostate gland is, 4 out of 10 men (39%) are still unwilling to have a medical check-up because they don’t think they are at risk of developing any disease. A quarter of men live in fear of the medical examination believing that the check-up is too intrusive, 10% of men believe the check-up is too embarrassing and 1 in 25 feel that a prostate check is an invasion of their masculinity.

Each year 221,000 men die of prostate cancer and 678,000 men live with the condition. If caught early it's a treatable disease but it seems that embarrassment, ignorance and macho attitudes are preventing men from getting it checked out.

The aim of the conference was to communicate a holistic approach to treating prostate cancer - in effect, a new approach to treating the disease. As well as discussing progress in hormone therapy, topics debated at the conference also covered diet, exercise and sexuality. Attending delegates were made up of urological surgeons and specialists from the UK and around the world.

Celebrity chef Brian Turner cooked up some prostate cancer friendly recipes on the stand, and there were also exercise bikes with instructors demonstrating exercises that are beneficial for men with prostate cancer.

To find out more visit prostateuk.org.