The most common male cancer in the UAE is prostate cancer, followed by skin cancer, which affects nearly 250,000 more men worldwide every year than it does women.
Factors that make men in the UAE more vulnerable include a diet rich in calories, fat, refined carbohydrates and animal protein, combined with low physical activity, resulting in an overall energy imbalance.
Prostate cancer, as well as its treatment, which sometimes leads to impotence, urinary incontinence and other problems afflicts men in the UAE with a significant health burden.
According to a study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, prevention of prostate cancer is available in the shape of a drug called Finasteride. The drug reduces chances of getting prostate cancer by altering male hormone levels.
In the study, men who took the medicine reduced their chances by a significant 25 per cent, compared to men who took a placebo.
Finasteride has been available in the UAE for over 10 years under the name Proscar, which has been used for treating Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), causing enlargement of the prostate.
Gulf News
