Prostate cancer mainly affects men over the age of 50 and your risk increases with age. The average age for men to be diagnosed with prostate cancer is between 70 and 74 years. If you are under 50 then your risk of getting prostate cancer is very low. Younger men can be affected, but this is rare.

You are two and a half times more likely to get prostate cancer if your father or brother has been diagnosed with it, compared to a man who has no relatives with prostate cancer. There might be a higher chance of a man developing prostate cancer if his relative was under 60 when he was diagnosed or he had more than one close relative with prostate cancer.

Researchers have found some characteristics in genes that might be passed on through your parents and could increase your risk of developing prostate cancer. Only five to ten per cent of prostate cancers are thought to be strongly linked to genes. Researchers have found that changes in two genes called BRCA1 and BRCA2 can increase a woman's chance of developing breast and ovarian cancer, and can also increase a man's chance of developing prostate cancer. Changes in these genes are rare but if you have relatives with breast and/or ovarian cancer and are worried about this, you could speak to your GP. Having these genes does not necessarily mean you will get prostate cancer.

In the UK, African Caribbean men are three times more likely to develop prostate cancer than white men of the same age. The reasons for this increased risk are not yet clear but may be due to changes in their genes passed down through generations.

You can read more online or download our leaflet, What do you know about your prostate? Information for African Caribbean men.

No one knows how to prevent prostate cancer yet but a healthy diet and regular exercise may help to lower your risk of developing it.

Men living in Western countries are more likely to get prostate cancer than men in South and East Asian countries such as China and Japan. This may be because of the Western diet, which contains less fruit and vegetables and more dairy, red meat, sugar and processed foods.

Eating a healthy, balanced diet with a wide variety of foods, including plenty of fruit and vegetables, may help to prevent prostate cancer.

Read more about healthy eating

Some foods may reduce your risk of prostate cancer, including tomatoes and soya.

Some foods may increase your risk of prostate cancer. These include dairy products and calcium, processed and red meat, and fat.

You can read more online or download our leaflet, Diet and your risk of prostate cancer.

Exercising may lower your risk of prostate cancer. The more exercise you do, and the more strenuous the exercise, the lower your risk.

Try to do 30 minutes of moderate exercise each day - enough to get out of breath, for example, brisk walking, cycling or swimming. If you are able to, gradually build up to three hours of strenuous exercise a week, such as running, tennis or football.

A healthy lifestyle can also help you control your weight. Men who are a healthy weight may be less likely to be diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer than obese men.

You can read more in our online leaflet.

Age
Cancer Research UK, http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/types/prostate/incidence/

Family history
Dianat SS, Margreiter M, Eckersberger E, et al. Gene polymorphisms and prostate cancer: the evidence. BJUI. 2009;104:1560-1572

Easton DF, Ford D, Bishop DT, and the Breast Cancer Linkage Consortium. Breast and ovarian cancer incidence in BRCA1 mutation carriers. American Journal of Human Genetics 1995;56(1):265-71.

Edwards SM, Kote-Jarai Z, Meitz J et al. Two percent of men with early-onset prostate cancer harbour germline mutations in the BRCA2 gene. Am J Hum Genet. 2003;72(1):1-12.

Elo JP and Visakorpi T. Molecular genetics of prostate cancer. Ann Med. 2001;33(2):130-41

Ford D, Easton DF, Stratton M, et al. Genetic heterogeneity and pebetrance analysis of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes in breast cancer families. American Journal of Human Genetics 1998;62:676-89.

Johns LE, Houlston RS. A systematic review and meta-analysis of familial prostate cancer risk. BJU International. 2003;91:789-794.

McPherson K, Steel CM, Dixon JM. Breast cancer: epidemiology, risk factors and genetics. British Medical Journal. 2000;321:624-8.

Mitra AV, Bancroft EK, Barbachano Y, et al. Targeted prostate cancer screening in men with mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 detects aggressive prostate cancer: preliminary analysis of the results of the IMPACT study. BJU Int. 2010.

Thompson D, Easton DF. Cancer Incidence in BRCA1 mutation carriers. J Natl Cancer Inst, 2002;94(18):1358-1365.

Ethnicity
Ben-Shlomo Y, Evans S, Ibrahim F, et al. PROCESS study group. The Risk of Prostate Cancer amongst Black Men in the United Kingdom: The PROCESS Cohort Study. Eur Urol. 2008;53(1):99-105

Hooker S, Hernandez W, Chen H, et al. Replication of prostate cancer risk loci on 8q24, 11q13, 17q12, 19q33, and Xp11 in African Americans Prostate 2010 Feb 15;70(3):270-6).

Lavender NA, Benford ML, VanCleave TT, et al. Examination of polymorphic glutathione S-transferase (GST) genes, tobacco smoking and prostate cancer risk among Men of African Descent: A case-control study BMC Cancer. 2009;9:397

Mason TE, Ricks-Santi L, Chen W, et al. Association of CD14 variant with prostate cancer in African American men Prostate 2010 Feb 15;70(3):262-9)

Metcalfe C, Evans S, Ibrahim F, et al. Pathways to diagnosis for black men and white men found to have prostate cancer: the PROCESS cohort study. British Journal of Cancer (2008)
National Cancer Intelligent Network. Cancer incidence and survival by major ethnic group, England. 2002-2006

Wang Y, Ray AM, Johnson EK, et al. Evidence for an association between prostate cancer and chromosome 8q24 and 10q11 genetic variants in African American men: The flint men's health study. Prostate. 2010.

Xu J, Kibel AS, Hu JJ, et al. Prostate cancer risk associated loci in African Americans Cancer Epidemiol Markers Prev. 2009;18(7)2145-49.

Diet
You can find a list of references used to produce the diet section in our online leaflet.

Exercise
You can find a list of references used to produce the exercise section in our online leaflet.