As a man, your prostate gland is an essential part of your sexual health, as it is a key component in your reproductive system. Therefore, it’s important to know everything you can about your prostate, as knowing what’s normal can help you to protect your wellbeing when something goes wrong. So let’s take a closer look – figuratively speaking – at your prostate gland, and how it has an impact on your overall wellness.
While it’s commonly known as the prostate gland, it is not really a gland at all, but rather an organ that is made up of about 70% glandular tissue and 30% fibromuscular tissue. If you’re a male adult, your prostate gland will be about the size and shape of a walnut and weigh roughly 20 grams. You’ll find your prostate gland directly beneath your bladder and in front of your rectum, surrounded by a thick fibrous capsule. This glandular tissue of your prostate will secrete a fluid that will contribute to 20 to 30% of your overall volume of seminal fluid. While your prostate is always generating this fluid, it will really up its production when you’re sexually excited.
Your semen is made of a combination of spermatozoa, seminal vesicle fluid and prostatic fluid, as well as a tiny amount of fluid from some minor glands. The fluid created by your prostate gland is a thin, milky substance that gives your semen its characteristic colour and odour. In these secretions, there will be concentrations of calcium, zinc, citric acid, acid phosphatase, albumin, and prostatic specific antigen. Not only do these substances help to lubricate your urethra, but they also protect, nourish and mobilise your sperm when they get into the usually acidic environment of the female vagina.
Your prostate will grow very little when you’re a kid, but once you hit puberty it will undergo a growth spurt, increasing in weight and doubling its size. After this, the size of your prostate will more or less remain the same for another 30 years or more. Some men, in fact, find that their prostate never grows after puberty. This is healthy, but the unfortunate truth is that most men will experience prostate growth later in life, which is a real wellness issue. Some form of non-malignant enlargement of the prostate, medically known as benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH, is a likely thing for you to experience. The American Foundation for Urologic Disease estimates that more than half of men aged 50 and above have enlarged prostates, which is a number that steadily increases with age. While you may escape the over-50 bracket, by age 80 it is estimated that 80% of men have prostatic enlargement. So why is an enlarged prostate such a wellness concern?
If your prostate gland becomes enlarged, it can get in the way of the flow of urine through your ureters. If this happens, the blockage can cause a backpressure in your kidney which, if left untreated, can lead to chronic kidney disease. The good news is, however, that there are more and more medical and nutritional treatment approaches to this common male disorder that ever before, so the problem shouldn’t threaten your wellbeing as long as you get your prostate checked and treated. Aside from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), other conditions of the prostate include prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate) and prostate cancer. Again, as prostate cancer is currently the second leading cause of death from cancer in men (the first being lung cancer) the American Cancer Society and the American Urological Association currently recommend that healthy you begin an annual habit of rectal examination after the age of 40 and a rectal exam and a simple blood test to monitor prostate-specific antigen levels (called PSA) once you turn 50.
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