The Prostate and Prostate Health
About the prostate
The prostate is part of the male reproductive system. . The gland is made of two lobes, or regions, enclosed by an outer layer of tissue. As the diagram below shows, it is located below the bladder and in front of the rectum, and surrounds the urethra, the tube-like structure that carries urine from the bladder out through the penis.
This is a file from Wikipedia Commons
Function of the prostate
Scientists do not know all the prostate's functions. but they include:
- To produce the fluid that mixes with sperm to make semen. During sexual climax, the muscles contract and squeeze this fluid into the urethra. This fluid energizes the sperm and makes the vaginal canal less acidic.
- Secretes a substance which is thought to contain antibacterial properties
- Contains an enzyme called 5 alpha-reductase that converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT)
Size of the prostate
A normal prostate is about the same size and shape as a walnut and weighs about an ounce.
As a man matures, the prostate goes through two main periods of growth. The first occurs early in puberty, when the prostate doubles in size. At around age 25, the gland begins to grow again. This second growth phase often results, years later, in benign prostatic hyperplasia (or benign prostatic hypertrophy), commonly referred to as BPH.
Though the prostate continues to grow during most of a man's life, the enlargement doesn't usually cause problems until late in life. BPH rarely causes symptoms before age 40, but more than half of men in their sixties and as many as 90 percent in their seventies and eighties have some symptoms of BPH.
The prostate and sexual function
During a man’s orgasm (sexual climax), muscles squeeze the prostate’s fluid into the urethra. Sperm, which is produced in the testicles, also go into the urethra during orgasm. The milky fluid produced by the prostate carries the sperm through the penis during orgasm.
The incidence of sexual dysfunction in patients suffering from Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) -- or enlarged prostate -- is nearly twice as high as physicians believe according to a survey done by the American Foundation for Urologic Diseases (AFUD) and presented at a recent meeting of the American Urological Association. The survey demonstrated that 25% of the physicians believed that their patients were experiencing sexual dysfunction, while a larger study of 14,000 men placed the incidence at 50%.
One of the leading reasons for sexual dysfunction (include erectile dysfunction or ED and ejaculatory dysfunction or EjD) is that certain treatments can cause or worsen sexual dysfunction.
Recent studies suggest that men who ejaculate more frequently may have a lower (33%) lifetime risk of prostate cancer.
How does the prostate change as you get older?
Because the prostate gland tends to grow larger with age, it may squeeze the urethra and cause problems in passing urine. Sometimes men in their 30s and 40s may begin to have these urinary symptoms and need medical attention. For others, symptoms aren't noticed until much later in life.
>> Return to the Prostate Health Center
