Bloke Health

In my opinion, the plumbing around the prostate is a major design fault, the result of which, creates much grief for men as they reach their middle and late years in life. Perhaps nature's design blue print didn't envisage male human longevity. But the truth is that the majority of men will experience prostate issues as they age because of the way we are put together. In its simplest form the prostate gland is doughnut-shaped and the urethra, the tube carrying the urine from the bladder to the penis, runs through the hole in the middle (at this point the urethra merges with the two ejaculatory ducts). An enlarged prostate will slowly strangle the urethra causing urinary and bladder emptying problems.

The size of a healthy human prostate is normally compared to that of a walnut; but in reality, it is slightly bigger. If you think of a kiwi fruit then you won't be far off the mark when visualising its size, and its weigh falls between 7 and 16 grams with the average weight coming in at 11 grams. It is also the only exocrine organ positioned in the mid-line in male human beings and similar animals. I think the term “Exocrine” needs some clarification, and it means glands which secrete their products onto the skin or into cavities within the body usually via a duct.

For the prostate to work properly it requires male hormones which are responsible for the male sex characteristics. The major player in this group of hormones is testosterone which is manufactured predominantly in the testicles and to a lesser degree in the adrenal glands, but the key hormone required for optimum prostate health is Dhydrotestosterone (DHT). Variations in DHT are widely believed to be the cause of many prostate health issues.