The answer is multiple: location in the world, ethnic background, breast cancer in close relatives, BBQ'd meat, age, and, believe it or not, NOT having diabetes. In this article we'll take a look at each of these causes and how they relate to prostate cancer.

First and most important is age. Age is the single greatest reason men get prostate cancer, and it increases almost exponentially the older they get. If you are between they age of 60 and 80, there is a one in six chance you will get it. If you are below they age of 50, you are extremely unlikely to have it. Simple as that, and the information leads to the best preventative: regular screening after age 50. In addition to age, there is a genetic risk as well.

If you have more than one close women relative who has had breast cancer or a father or brother who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer, your chances increase even more. This is an indication that a faulty gene is the culprit and is being passed through your family. And what your family's ethnicity is can also be a risk.

Recent studies have shown that men with African ancestry are twice as likely to develop prostate cancer as white men, and white men are twice as likely as Asian men. Why this should be so is not immediately clear, and it may be complicated; having to do with diet and lifestyle as well as dominant malfunctioning genes.

All this is well and good to know, but it doesn't do you any good if you can't control it, does it?

Well how about BBQ'd meat? A few recent studies have shown that cooking meat over an open flame may be a cause of cancer (Cancer Causes Control 2000; 11:731-739). However, other studies have not shown a correlation (J Natl Cancer Inst, 1999; 91:2038-2044). Still others suggest that the charring of the meat is what's bad, and that one should aim to flip their grilled meat several times to prevent blackening, or scrape off any charring before eating.

Again, doesn't tell us a whole lot, does it? And "studies" are notorious for giving everyone conflicting results. Remember Joe Jackson's song "Everything Gives You Cancer."

How about location in the world?

If you live in North America or Western Europe, you are at slightly more risk than anywhere else. This may be a dietary difference or hereditary, but the picture is not yet complete. It may even simply be a result of more often and more aggressive testing procedures in the "developed" world. There is a large ongoing study in Europe called EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition) to try to determine the correlation between European diet and prostate cancer, but results won't be in for another ten years.

So it seems to be premature to move outside of these two areas of the world. But how about avoiding prostate cancer by already having another common disease in men?

A recently completed study showed the surprising fact that men who have had diabetes for several years have a significantly reduced chance of getting prostate cancer (American Journal of Epidemiology 2005 161(2);147-152). Keep in mind this does not mean you should run out and start eating donuts to get fat in hopes of acquiring diabetes and therefore avoiding the potentially more fatal prostate cancer. The study also showed that newly diagnosed diabetics actually have an INCREASED risk for the first four years, and then the "protective" effect begins. Also, obesity can contribute to other health problems and alone may only contribute further to other types of cancer.

So where does all this mess leave us?

Age. That's it. Age is the only reliable cause of prostate cancer. All the others are only potential risk factors that are still too early in their stages of study to know exactly what do about them or what they mean. When you get old your skin wrinkles, you get arthritis, and you get prostate cancer. It's simply a fact of life.