There are several alternative or natural treatments for an enlarged prostate and 2 of these are to use pumpkin seeds and saw palmetto.

It may seem odd but pumpkin seeds have a number of healing properties and they have been found to be especially effective for a lot of men suffering from an enlarged prostate. Pumpkin seeds possess 3 properties in particular which are useful in this case.

The first is that pumpkin seeds contain fatty oil that acts as a natural diuretic and helps to improve urine flow and counter the restrictive effect which an enlarged prostate gland has on the urethra.

The second property is that they contain very high levels of zinc which means that a half a cup of seeds contains approximately eight milligrams of zinc. It has been clearly demonstrated that taking zinc can literally shrink an enlarged prostate and a lot of doctors recommend taking sixty milligrams each day. You ought to take care however and it is wise to talk to your doctor before raising your zinc intake to this level as it is higher than the normally recommended daily level.

The third benefit of pumpkin seeds is that they contain high levels of animo acids such as glutamic acid, glycerine and alanine, all of which have once more been demonstrated to give significant symptomatic relief.

Another widely used treatment for an enlarged prostate is saw palmetto. Grown in the southeastern states, saw palmetto is a small palm tree the seeds of which used to form a key part of the Seminole Indian diet.

Saw palmetto works by converting testosterone into dihyrotestosterone and this is the same process used in Proscar, which is one of only a handful of over-the-counter treatments which have been approved for prostate problems by the Food and Drug Administration. Its central benefit is that it increases urinary flow, reduces the problem of residual urine and cuts down the frequency of urination.

As with many alternative treatments opinions vary considerably about the effectiveness of saw palmetto, but there have been a number of studies in recent years which have clearly shown that it does produce a considerable benefit. In one such study, a clinical study looking at over two thousand men in Germany with an enlarged prostate, a daily dose of just 1 or 2 grams of saw palmetto seeds produced a significant reduction in symptoms.

These are of course merely two of the many natural treatments available but there can be no question that such treatments can and indeed do work. Just as an example, it is believed that about thirty percent of American men have an undiagnosed prostate cancer by the time they reach sixty years of age against a mere one percent of Arctic Inuit men at the same age. Of course there could be several reasons for this large difference, but one difference that most physicians consider to be particularly significant is simply the fact the Arctic Inuit diet is high in fish oil.

Consequently, if you are concerned about your prostate heath then, before you turn to your doctor to sort it out, you could find that a simple adjustment to your diet and taking a number of vitamin and mineral supplements might be all that you need to do.