Medical experts have suggested lifestyle modification, and improved diet intakes above medical treatment as panacea to prostate cancer and pains of menopause among men and women respectively.

Lola Owolabi, Oseni Ismaila and Aremu Iziak, senior medical consultants from University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), yesterday, at the chapel office on Murtala Road, Ilorin, took correspondents of various media houses in Kwara State through two health talks. It was part of the association’s ongoing Press Week.

Owolabi listed pains in women at the age of menopause to include: weak bones, vaginal dryness that may ensure painful sexual intercourse, mood swing, loss of hair, hormone depletion, loss of voice, profuse sweating, loss of elasticity of urinary bladder and uterus collapse.

She, however, proffered healthy diets with less carbohydrates, light clothing, frequent cold rather than hot baths, water-based lubricants and hormone replacement therapy that must not be used beyond five years.

The consultant gynaecologist dispelled the belief that irregular sex induces early menopause, which she described asan ageing process among women.

“It is the absence of eggs that prompt normal and regular menopause; it has nothing to do with sex,” she stated.

Warning against habitual unchecked diets, which could “certainly induce” early menopause, she advised intake of proteinsand Vitamin E, as well as less strenuous exercises to reduce hair loss.
On prostate enlargement, Oseni, a neurology consultant, described prostate among man as normal, adding that “as long as you are not castrated, you must have it.”

He, however, warned on the danger of its management and control. He linked its spread to irregular and unchecked diets.

“There is no major treatment to prostate cancer, it varies,” he said, adding that its severity lies with the risk factors.

Oseni noted that lifestyle modification could forever check or reduce the menace.

He said: “Lifestyle modification is the key to prostate cancer-free life among men. The risk factors, aside alcohol and smoking, is diet. Do away with foods like animal fats and red meats and go for white meats like rabbits, chicken and turkey.”

The consultant also advised men to engage in regular exercises and screening especially for men above 40 years.

“Avoid misinformation; prostrate cancer is not contagious,” he declared.

Events of the Press Week continue today with table tennis contest among the correspondents, at Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) secretariat on Offa road.