Benign prostatic hyperplasia, referred to as BPH, is a nodular enlarging of the prostate gland. The prostate gland has two main phases of growth. The first one occurs early in puberty, when the prostate becomes twice in size. Around the age of 25 years, the gland begins to grow again. This second phase often leads, years later, to BPH. BPH seldom shows any symptoms before the age of 40 years, but more than 50% of men in their sixties and 90 percent in their seventies and eighties have some symptoms of BPH. The various symptoms of BPH include frequent urination, nocturia, that is, urinating in the night, incomplete emptying of bladder and feeling of burning sensation while urinating. As the prostate enlargement occurs, the tissue layer surrounding it stops it from expanding, which causes the gland to push against the urethra.

The prostate gland is susceptible to fungal, bacterial, viral and parasitic infections. The infection leads to the inflammation in the cells of the prostate gland. These bacteria and the viruses are aided by certain enzymes. Thus, the prostate gets enlarged.

Calcium is very important for strong bones and teeth but as a person ages, it migrates from bones and teeth into the soft tissues and organs of the body. When calcium does this, it turns from a beneficial mineral into a pernicious one. When calcium moves into kidneys kidney stones are formed, when it moves to arteries it causes arteriosclerosis as well as atherosclerosis. Similarly, when calcium gets into prostate it causes prostatic calculi, also known as prostate stones. These stones accumulate overtime and ultimately cause the enlargement of the prostate.

Low zinc levels can cause cadmium toxicity, which in turn leads to prostate enlargement. Cadmium is a heavy toxic metal commonly found in plastics, sea food, cigarette, water softners, soft drinks etc. Cadmium owes its unique ability to damage the prostate to its similarity to zinc. All beneficial elements have their toxic analogs that the body mistakes for beneficial ones. This is due to similarities in atomic radius and electric charge of certain elements. Thus, the body mistakes cadmium for zinc. Now, the prostate gland needs zinc to function and it is often zinc deficient. So, the moment it perceives some toxic cadmium floating by in the blood stream it mistakes it for zinc and gobbles it right up. As time goes by, cadmium accumulates in the prostate and causes its enlargement.

Zinc deficiency not only causes the prostate to operate less effectively but also causes it to enlarge. It is well known that some organs of the body require an element more than other organs, and in case of the prostate it is zinc. Individual organs and glands have specific mineral requirements and if they don’t get what they need, they malfunction and can enlarge. For example, thyroid gland enlargement occurs due to the deficiency of iodine.

We have already discussed hormonal inversion.There is another reason for this inversion which is a bit bizarre. It turns out that there is an enzyme in a man’s body called aromatase, which converts testosterone into the most powerful of the three types of estrogen, namely estradiol. This estradiol causes cancer or more specifically prostrate cancer, which ultimately results in prostate enlargement. This cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in the US and the second leading cause of death among men in United States after lung cancer.

A man produces more testosterone than estrogen up to the early thirties. However, as the age progresses the testosterone formation is lowered and estrogen formation increases. By the age of 35 years, more estrogen is formed than testosterone. This process is called hormonal inversion. This imbalance accelerates as the age progresses, so when a man is 60 years old, he makes double the estrogen as testosterone and by the age of 90 years, twelve times more.

This imbalance damages the prostate gland. Hormonal inversion is caused due to the conversion of the testosterone into Di-Hydro Testosterone, also called as DHT. This happens because of an enzyme named 5-alpha reductase, whose function is to convert useful testosterone into the DHT. It is this DHT which is the main cause of prostate enlargement.