Prostate cancer is much more common in some races than in others. For example, historically, Japanese men living in Japan had an extremely low incidence of prostate cancer. By comparison African American men, Afro-Caribbean men, and men in some African countries are at very high risk of this disease.
Why is this? We don’t know.
What we do know is that it isn’t just about their genetics and their heritage, because men of Japanese origin living in America have a similar risk of prostate cancer to any other average American man living in the same area! However, race can be an important factor in determining when a man should begin to have regular check-ups for signs of prostate cancer.
Race is implicated in all sorts of things that may impact risk for prostate cancer. Here are some of the things that may have serious implications for why men of certain ethnic backgrounds have greater or lesser risk for prostate cancer:
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People of different ethnic backgrounds may have diets that are high or low in certain types of product (meat, fish, dairy products, vegetables, fruit, etc.).
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People with common ethnic backgrounds may have a high probability of living in areas that have better or less good levels of environmental pollution.
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People with some ethnic backgrounds may have lower or higher nutritional status than others because of income.
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Men from some ethnic backgrounds may have a higher propensity to drink alcohol and/or smoke cigarettes.
You can probably think of all sorts of other racial diversity issues that might have some impact on risk for prostate cancer … but which have nothing to do with genetics.
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