Shopping for Flip Flops, Sandals, and Slides: A Foot Doctor’s Guide

Updated on Jun 23, 2025 | Orthopedics, Your Health

As the weather warms up, many people switch to flip flops, slides, and sandals. While these open-toed shoes keep feet cool, they often lack arch support, leading to foot problems like blisters and heel pain. Fortunately, there are ways to stay comfortable and stylish throughout the summer.

Meghan Kelly, MD, PhD

In this Q&A, Meghan Kelly, MD, PhD, a foot and ankle surgeon at Mount Sinai, shares expert insights on how to shop for the best supportive summer footwear.

What are some common foot problems caused by summer footwear like sandals, flip-flops, and slides?

People with flat feet, plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis, or arch pain often experience flare-ups in summer because many sandals and flip flops lack proper arch support, compared with sneakers or closed-toe shoes.

It’s also difficult to wear orthotics in open footwear, which can worsen conditions like metatarsalgia (pain in the ball of the foot). Increased walking during summer vacations, especially on uneven surfaces like sand or cobblestones, can also aggravate joint pain and arthritis.

What features should I look for in flip flops, slides, and sandals to reduce strain on my arches and heels?

Look for summer footwear with arch support and a firm, inflexible sole. A good test: if you can fold the shoe in half lengthwise, it’s not supportive. Choose flip flops and sandals with rigid soles and built-in arch support.

Proper shoe sizing is also crucial—wearing the correct size improves comfort and makes arch support more effective.

If you suffer from Achilles tendon pain or heel pain, choose a sandal with a slight wedge, which mimics a heel lift used in some supportive closed shoes.

👣 Expert Tips for Supportive Summer Footwear (Sandals, Flip-flops, and Slides)

  • Choose supportive summer footwear with arch support, rigid soles, and proper sizing to help prevent plantar fasciitis, heel pain, and Achilles tendonitis.
  • Many brands offer stylish, foot-friendly sandals—If you have heel pain, look for options with a slight wedge heel for added relief.
  • Use adhesive arch supports in open shoes and do daily foot stretches to reduce strain and improve flexibility all summer long.

Can you recommend summer footwear that is both supportive and stylish?

Many popular brands now offer supportive sandals in fashionable styles. These options provide both comfort and aesthetic appeal, so you don’t have to sacrifice style for foot health.

Are there any strengthening or stretching exercises to help offset the effects of wearing less supportive footwear?

Yes. Two effective exercises are:

  1. Plantar Fascia Stretch – Sit with your injured foot over your opposite thigh, so your legs are in a figure-four position, and pull your toes back to stretch the bottom of your foot. This simple foot stretch improves flexibility and reduces foot pain without equipment.
  2. Calf Stretch – Stand on a step with one heel hanging off the back. Hold for five minutes, twice a day. Helps with plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis, and heel pain.

Plantar fascia stretch (left) and calf stretch (right)

These foot strengthening and stretching exercises help reduce the strain from unsupportive shoes.

Can insoles or orthotics help in summer footwear?

Traditional orthotics are designed for closed shoes, but some adhesive arch support pads can work in open sandals. These can relieve pain in the arch and ball of the foot, especially for people with metatarsalgia. They’re a good option for making unsupportive footwear more tolerable. If you have pain in your feet, ankles, or even your knees and back, a podiatrist can determine if you need an orthotic. These are available in stores. A podiatrist can customize your orthotic to meet your individual needs.

What should I consider when buying or wearing shoes with heels?

Limit wearing high heels or stilettos for extended periods. Instead, choose high-heeled sandals with hidden platforms that reduce strain on the foot. Always match the heel height to your expected activity level. If heels are necessary, a block heel or wedge espadrilles (a light shoe typically made with canvas or cotton fiber) can be more supportive to your ankles as well.

What advice do you have for someone with bunions, bone spurs, or heel bumps?

For bunions, avoid tight or narrow-toed shoes. Look for open-toed sandals or those with soft fabric uppers to reduce irritation. People with heel bone spurs or pump bumps should consider backless shoes to avoid pressure and friction at the back of the heel.

Schedule an appointment with a Mount Sinai podiatrist

Personal Care Products and Cancer Risk: What to Know

Updated on Jun 3, 2025 | Cancer, Your Health

Personal care products can help us look, smell, and feel good, but what’s in them—and how they affect our health—is not so obvious. While regulated, many of these products contain carcinogens and other ingredients harmful to human health. Knowing what to avoid can help you reduce your risk for cancer and other health problems.

Emanuela Taioli, MD, PhD

“I read beauty product labels the same way I read food labels,” says Emanuela Taioli, MD, PhD, Associate Director for Population Science and a Co-Leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai. “Just like I want to make sure I’m not eating too much sugar when buying a food product, I want to make sure I’m not exposing myself to something potentially dangerous when using products in my skin and hair.”

In this Q&A, Dr. Taioli, who is also the Director of the Institute for Translational Epidemiology and the Center for the Study of Thoracic Diseases Outcomes at Mount Sinai, explains why it’s important to read product labels and what to look for.

Do some personal care products pose a cancer risk?
Many personal care products contain chemicals that pose a cancer risk. Check labels on hair products, cosmetics, deodorants, skin creams, and sunscreens, etc., for potential carcinogens—especially shampoos and conditioners, hair extensions, and hair relaxants. These products can contain formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, and other potentially harmful ingredients, which can become even more dangerous when hair is heated.

What should I look for and avoid in product labels?
Products labels don’t tell you whether a product contains carcinogens. For example, just because a product label says “fragrance-free,” “natural,” or “organic,” does not necessarily mean a product does not contain chemicals that can increase your risk for cancer and other health issues.

For example, hormonal ingredients are natural but can interfere with your natural hormone system and pose health risks, including cancer. Hormones are added to some  personal care products, from shampoos to anti-aging creams and cosmetics. Some products contain placental ingredients, which are loaded with hormones. Skin bleaching products contain estrogen-like compounds.

If you want to know if a product is potentially harmful, you need to look at the ingredients.

Check If Your Personal Care Product Ingredients Are Safe

Use these trusted cosmetic safety databases to research ingredients in skincare, haircare, and other personal care products:

What common ingredients should I avoid due to potential cancer risk?
These products can contain definite and probable carcinogens. Some of the most common ones include, but are not limited to:

Definite carcinogens:

  • Formaldehyde
  • Coal tar
  • Benzene
  • Asbestos
  • 1,4-Dioxane
  • Arsenic
  • Crystalline silica
  • Ethylene oxide
  • Cadmium compounds
  • Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

Probable carcinogens:

  • Phthalates (e.g., DEP, DBP)
  • Nitrosamines
  • Talc
  • Titanium dioxide (inhalable form)
  • BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole)

If hormonal ingredients are natural, why are they considered unsafe?
Certain cancers, like prostate and breast cancer, are very sensitive to hormones. Treating your skin or hair with hormones may feed a cancer that is in an initial stage and promote the growth of that cancer. If these products are used on children, they can trigger early puberty.

Any ingredient that starts with “estra,” like estradiol, for example, is a hormone derivate. Ingredients known as “endocrine disrupters” are not hormones but mimic them. Examples include parabens, phthalates (e.g., DEP, DBP), triclosan, resorcinol, and BHA/BHT.

Why does heating my hair increase my cancer risk?
Let’s say you put a product containing formaldehyde or other carcinogen in your hair and then straighten it with a flat iron—you are treating the chemicals at a very high temperature, and that creates a chemical reaction, which you can breathe in. If you do this only once, it’s unlikely to be harmful. But if you do it on a regular basis, you are increasing your risk. Hair dryers emit less heat, and don’t have direct contact with hair, so are less risky than flat irons and curling irons.

Are there any reliable resources that will tell me what ingredients or products are unsafe?
The California Safe Cosmetics Database (on the California Department of Public Health website) and the EWG Skin Deep® Cosmetics Database both contain lists of ingredients you should avoid or treat with caution, and are great resources to bookmark and reference when you are shopping for these products.

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Expert Advice on How to Wake Up in the Morning

Updated on Jun 2, 2025 | Your Health

There’s plenty of advice and products on the market to help you fall asleep and get the optimal night’s rest. What we don’t think about as often is the best way to wake up. Are there things we can do first thing in the morning to start the day off right?

In this Q&A, Mariana Figueiro, PhD, Director of the Light and Health Research Center at Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai Endowed Professor of Light and Health Research at the Population Health Science and Policy Department at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, provides some time tested tips on how to start your day off right, beginning with why you should consider avoiding the snooze button on your alarm and why raising the shades is critical.

What’s the most important part of waking up well?

The key is to keep a regular schedule. That means getting up and going to bed at the same time every day, being so consistent that you don’t need an alarm clock because your body knows when it’s time to wake up. And it also means getting up right away—without hitting the snooze button. You never sleep as well after your alarm goes off. It’s better to set the alarm for the time you really need to get up, rather than allotting 10-15 minutes for the snooze button. This way, you get a little bit more sleep—and can be better quality sleep.

Mariana Figueiro, PhD, Director of the Light and Health Research Center at Mount Sinai. Click here to learn more about the Center.

What’s the best time to go to bed and wake up?

There isn’t a single best time for everyone. We’re all very different. Some people are larks and some people are owls. I like to go to bed early and wake up early. But others prefer to go to bed late and wake up late. The best scenario is if you can set your life schedule to match your internal clock. You can adjust to a schedule that’s contrary to your nature, but it’s always going to be an effort.

What if you establish a regular schedule, but then stay up later one night?

The ideal approach is to keep the same schedule even on the weekends, but we know that it’s probably not going to happen because you often do different things over the weekend than during the week. If you have to wake up the morning after a late night because it’s a workday, you just have to slug it out and maybe increase your caffeine intake. That’s why Mondays are so hard. But if you don’t have to get up, you should forget the alarm and let yourself wake up naturally. If you’ve been keeping a regular schedule, you should be okay with going back to sleeping at your regular time the following night. One night of getting to bed late and sleeping late shouldn’t throw you off.

How does the body know when to go to sleep and when to wake up?

There are basically two processes for sleep. One is driven by the sleep homeostatic also known as sleep pressure. When you wake up in the morning, you aren’t feeling any sleep pressure because you just finished sleeping. But that sleep pressure builds with time awake, and after being awake for 15 or more hours, you will have a lot of sleep pressure. While you sleep, especially during deep sleep, you dissipate the sleep pressure. If you get a good night’s sleep, by the time you wake up, your sleep pressure goes back to zero. The other process is driven by the circadian clock. Your biological clock tells you to stay awake during the day and asleep at night. At bedtime, your sleep pressure is high and your biological clock switches from sending you an alerting signal to sending you a sleeping signal. That’s how you fall asleep. If these two processes are misaligned, you will not fall asleep or maintain sleep as easily.

Do sleep patterns change as you get older?

As you get older, you don’t sleep as deeply, so you don’t get rid of as much sleep pressure at night. You also have a much more fragmented sleep at night. That means when you get out of bed in the morning, you’re already a little tired. And you stay a little tired.

What about taking a nap?

Some older people who don’t have a fixed schedule take a nap in the afternoon. Napping dissipates some of the sleep pressure, which is helpful right after the nap. But it also makes it harder to fall asleep at night because you have only been accumulating sleep pressure for a few hours instead of all day. Having less sleep pressure means that even if your biological clock tells you to go to sleep, you don’t feel the pressure to do so. That makes it harder to fall asleep at night, which means you don’t get as good nighttime rest and you wake up not fully rested. It’s a cycle. If you really have to take a nap, don’t nap for more than 20 minutes; that way, you don’t dissipate as much sleep pressure, so you should still be able to fall asleep at night.

What can I do when I wake up, to get a good start to the day?

When you get up, you should go right to your window and pull up your shades or open your curtains. If you don’t have much daylight in your bedroom, then go to a well daylit room. Daylight can help you wake up naturally and reduce sleepiness. It’s great if you can get into the habit of taking your morning cup of coffee outside. I’ve often recommended getting a puppy, because then you’re forced to go outdoors every morning at the same time.

What about a dawn simulator?

If you have to get up when it’s still dark out, a dawn simulator can help because you won’t wake up in a dark room. That’s a light that slowly ramps up. Some of these devices are combined with an alarm clock; they start making the room a little lighter before the alarm goes off, and then they continue to brighten the room after you’re awake.

What about a “light box” for seasonal affective disorder (SAD)? Do they do the same thing?

SAD lights are effective, especially for treating seasonal affective disorder (SAD) but they are too bright and people tend to find them uncomfortable to look at. And if you don’t get the light at the back of the eye, you don’t get its benefit. Also, SAD lights generally don’t slowly ramp up, so they are not ideal for using to help you wake up. They are more appropriate to be used after you wake up.

Does exercise help get your morning off to the right start?

I often tell people to go for a walk outside for a half hour or so first thing in the morning. That way, you’re getting light (at least in summer months) and you’re exercising. Just exercising, without the daylight, doesn’t have as much, if any, effect on your biological clock.  But it can help get you moving and it might help you wake up.

Does it matter what kind of alarm you use?

Not really, as long as it doesn’t have such a harsh sound that you wake up startled. But that’s more of a psychological issue than a physiological one. Physiologically, it doesn’t matter what kind of alarm you use. But psychologically, you don’t want something that’s going to be jarring and upsetting.

You mentioned drinking a morning cup of coffee. How does caffeine help you wake up?

Adenosine is a sleep promoter and accumulates with time awake. Caffeine blocks the adenosine receptors in the brain. When caffeine blocks those receptors, it fools the brain into being awake and alert.

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What Are “Wellness Beverages,” and Can They Really Improve My Health?

May 28, 2025 | Diet and Nutrition, Your Health


The beverage market is flooded with what are known as “wellness” and “functional beverages.” These include energy drinks, sports drinks, electrolyte drinks, fortified waters, prebiotic and probiotic sodas, protein drinks, cognitive support beverages, adaptogen-infused (herbal) drinks, and even those claiming to enhance beauty.

These drinks are marketed for their potential health benefits—for example, enhanced energy and sleep, improved digestion, and stress relief. However, it’s important to note that these drinks are largely unregulated, and some may contain ingredients that could be harmful or unnecessary.

Taylor Stein, RD

In this Q&A, Taylor Stein, MS, RD, CDN, Associate Researcher and Registered Dietitian at Department of Environmental Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, discusses what these beverages are and what to consider when buying them.

What are “wellness” and “functional” beverages?

These types of beverages are basically supplements in liquid form. They are designed to help you relax, get more fiber, reduce sugar intake (by swapping a higher sugar beverage for a low or no sugar added option), or get additional nutrients.

Common ingredients include vitamins and minerals, probiotics (live microorganisms), herbal extracts and adaptogens (including ginseng, ginger, turmeric, ashwagandha, and rhodiola), plant extracts like green tea, dietary fiber and prebiotics (non-digestible fibers), caffeine, electrolytes, and even fatty acids.

Do these products really improve my health?

Possibly, but there is no guarantee. They are produced by the food and beverage industry, not medical practitioners. They don’t replace healthy lifestyle habits around nutrition, exercise, and mental health. A drink containing ashwagandha may claim to reduce stress, for example. It might help temporarily, but it’s not a cure.

Are these drinks safe?

They are generally safe. However, if you’re taking medications for chronic conditions, it’s best to examine ingredient lists. These beverages are not regulated, and labels may not advise you about possible interactions with medications or other supplements you might be on. You want to consider any ingredients you shouldn’t have, depending on your medical condition(s) or medications you are taking, and look for ingredients that might conflict.

What should I look for in product labels and packaging?

Be curious about any ingredients that are unfamiliar. Look them up and make sure they are safe for you. And be wary of any product labeling claiming to treat or cure certain conditions, such as stress or sleep deprivation—while some supplements do have research to support their use, this could just be fancy marketing.

Specifically, check for:

  • Added sugar and sugar replacements, like sugar alcohols, which can cause stomach upset
  • Excessive caffeine: Some energy drinks contain more than 200 milligrams of caffeine—the amount found in a 16-ounce coffee, and about twice as much as what is recommend for adults by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For some people, that much caffeine can cause heart, stomach, and sleep problems. Energy drinks can very sweet, so it’s easy to drink an unsafe amount.
  • Any other ingredients that are excessive: For example, prebiotic sodas can contain fiber in high amounts, which may upset your digestive system, especially if you are not used to lots of fiber.
  • Carrageenan: Often found in protein beverages, especially non-dairy varieties that have a creamy consistency, carrageenan is seen as safe in the food supply. But some people report stomach upset, and a form that is generally not used in food has been linked to an increased risk for cancer, so there is still ongoing research.

How often is it safe to consume these products?

They should be consumed in moderation—around once per day.

What beverages are best to consume for hydration?

Plain water should always be first. However, beverages containing electrolytes, especially when sweating, allow water to absorb into the bloodstream in a balanced way, which can aid hydration. Be sure to buy a beverage that includes a mix of electrolytes, such as potassium and magnesium. Keep in mind that many electrolyte beverages contain high amounts of sodium, an electrolyte, which can actually dehydrate you, so be mindful of the balance.

How can I know if I am dehydrated?

Look at your urine. If it’s pale yellow, you are getting enough. If it is dark, you are likely dehydrated. Generally, most people should drink about eight glasses of fluids a day, but we also get water from fruits, vegetables, and other foods, so it depends. Contrary to popular opinion, you can also drink coffee for hydration, though it contains plant compounds, known as tannins, that make your mouth feel dry.

Schedule an appointment with the Mount Sinai Physiolab for personalized health and awareness recommendations. Note: The Physiolab does not take insurance at this time.

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Worried About Your Child’s Mental Health? Here’s What You Can Do.

May 21, 2025 | Children's Health, Your Health

Mental health is a very important part of your child’s overall health and wellness throughout their childhood years and beyond into adulthood. It is the foundation to building their future and plays an integral role in the relationship to their physical health and their ability to function and succeed at school, at home, and in the world as a whole. Mental health affects everything—the way your child learns, develops, feels, thinks, and acts.

Do you worry about your child having anxiety, depression, stress, or other related illnesses? Do they display new behaviors, such as having outbursts, crying a lot when they don’t get their way, avoiding activities they once enjoyed, or getting very sad for long periods of time?

Stephen Turner, MD

“It can be hard to identify if their struggles are normal or signs of a mental health concern,” says pediatrician Stephen Turner, MD, from Mount Sinai Doctors Brooklyn Heights.

He offers some ways to support children and encourage wellness and how to spot signs and symptoms of a mental health problem.

Any type of change can be hard and intimidating for children of all ages. For example, the end of the school year can really weigh on a child. They might be filled with excitement, sadness, or apprehension as they say goodbye to their teachers and friends.

“What’s important to remember is understanding how they are feeling, helping them through it. Make those fun vacation plans, but also focus on their mental health,” Dr. Turner says. “Let’s face it, some kids love school, and they thrive on that structure, while others can’t wait for summer to begin. School is predictable and can be a child’s safe haven even if they say it’s not ‘cool’ or ‘fun.’”

How do we help children stay healthy mentally and move ahead with a transition to summer break and encourage good health and wellness all year long?

Here are some simple things you can do to help your child be more confident and develop resilience:

  • Offer a nurturing and loving environment: offer constant love and support, tell them that you love them, and hug your child often.
  • Listen to your child’s concerns.
  • Communicate clearly, consistently, and positively.
  • Keep the same structure and routine.
  • Be in the moment with them: share smiles, stories, and conversation.
  • Offer positive reinforcement.
  • Applaud their efforts and successes.
  • Be a role model and mentor.

Here are some signs and symptoms of a possible mental health concern:

  • A change in mood or intense behaviors and tantrums that last for long periods of time or several weeks.
    • Take note if the behavior happens a few times a week and if it lasts for a few minutes or a few hours.
    • Take note if the behaviors are disruptive for example, and are taking away from family time or causing a scene at a special event.
  • Limited interest in the activities they once enjoyed.
  • Decline in academics and school performance.
  • Excessive anxiety and worrying.
  • Withdrawn and sad.
  • Rebellious and opposition to parents, caregivers, and authority.
  • Interrupted sleep at night with bad dreams and night terrors.
  • A change in the way they talk or express themselves, such as using inappropriate or negative language, or having thoughts or talk of hurting themselves. In that case, get help right away and call your doctor or the National Helpline of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)—1-800-662-HELP (4357).

If you’re worried that your child may have a mental health concern, contact your child’s teachers and other adults who see them on a daily basis and take note if they are seeing similar changes in their behavior.

“Most importantly, trust yourself and the gut feeling that you have and contact your child’s pediatrician or a mental health and behavioral specialist to help you,” says Dr. Turner.

To make an appointment with a pediatrician at Mount Sinai Doctors Brooklyn Heights call 929-210-6000.

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For Prostate Cancer, Early Detection Saves Lives

Updated on Sep 8, 2025 | Featured, Your Health


Prostate cancer is periodically in the news, often when a celebrity or public figure announces they are undergoing treatment. But experts say that for older men, prostate cancer should be something they regularly discuss with their health care providers, and the key for most men is to understand the need for regular prostate cancer screenings.

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men in the United States, after skin cancer, and the number of cases has been rising. It’s also the second-leading cause of cancer death (after lung cancer). About one in eight men will get prostate cancer in their lifetime.

However, in many cases, men can recognize and manage this disease through testing and early detection, according to Ash Tewari, MBBS, MCh, FRCS (Hon.), DSc (Hon.), Professor and Chair, Milton and Carroll Petrie Department of Urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

“The one thing men should know is that they should understand the risk and get tested,” says Dr. Tewari,  a leading expert on prostate health and an advocate for expanding efforts to get men tested for prostate cancer. “That’s one thing that makes all the difference.”

Get Answers to Your Questions: A Prostate Cancer Survivorship Seminar Wednesday, September 17

The Department of Urology is holding a seminar dedicated to life after a prostate cancer diagnosis. Click here to register and for all the details.

In this Q&A, Dr. Tewari, who is also Director of the Center of Excellence for Prostate Cancer at The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai, explains when men should be tested for prostate cancer, how to assess your risk, and how regular testing is critical to identifying cancer earlier when treatment is significantly more successful, especially for those who may be at higher risk.

What are the warning signs of prostate cancer?

Prostate cancer is a silent killer. No symptoms will show up before the cancer has grown and has become incurable. The message here is: Don’t expect cancer to declare itself. You should go out and look for it. You should understand the risk. If you find it early enough, it’s very curable. But if you wait for the signs and symptoms to come and the cancer declares itself, the battle is usually a difficult battle. It’s a silent killer, don’t wait for the symptoms.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms can happen when the cancer is quite advanced. People may have difficulty in passing urine, they may have some pain, they may have some blood in their urine. That usually is a sign that the cancer is growing into the areas surrounding the prostate. But similar symptoms can happen even if there is no cancer. For example, an enlarged prostate—a condition called benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH—can produce these symptoms. It can be confusing. My message remains the same: Look for prostate cancer, and get screened, especially if you have a high risk, and that’s what saves lives.

When should men get tested for prostate cancer?

Men normally should start having a conversation with their primary care doctor or a urologist when they are about 45 to 50 years of age. When we talk about the testing, it’s not just about the test, it’s also what are the implications of the test—what we call shared decision making.

On average, any man 50 to 69 years old should be having a discussion with their doctors about prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening, and older men should also discuss prostate cancer with their doctor. But we can have this conversation earlier. For example, if someone has a family history of prostate cancer, is BRCA positive, or is African American, we could consider that group to have a high risk of prostate cancer. That discussion can start at about age 40. It is all about the individual’s risk for prostate cancer. Prostate cancer can be checked, and that’s the beauty of it.

About 288,000 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer last year. About 34,700 men died due to prostate cancer last year, and the majority of these deaths were avoidable if we had found the cancer early. PSA screening is a simple blood test. I think of PSA as standing for “Please Stay Alert.” There are other ways of testing, including a digital rectal exam, ultrasound and MRI scans, and other tests of your blood and urine. But the discussion starts with the PSA, and people should talk about what this PSA can do for them.

Looking for even more detailed information about prostate cancer? Click here to watch a special Prostate Cancer Awareness Seminar with Ash Tewari, MBBS, MCh, FRCS (Hon.), DSc (Hon.), Professor and Chair, Milton and Carroll Petrie Department of Urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

How can you minimize the risk of prostate cancer?

Those at high risk can do a lot to prevent this cancer and live healthier lives. It’s not rocket science. It starts with diet and nutrition—cutting down on carbs and processed food, balancing your diet, having more lean protein, avoiding red meat, cutting down on smoking and alcohol. And exercising a lot. I mean about 30 minutes a day, three to four times a week. Combining all of these is one of the biggest preventive factors in prostate cancer risk. Obviously, testing early makes all the difference.

How treatable is prostate cancer?

If we find prostate cancer early, we can cure it 98 to 99 percent of the time. But think about it: Despite this high cure rate, we still lost 34,700 men last year. Why did that happen? Because we are finding the cancer a little late. In five percent of patients, when we find cancer, they already have a cancer that has advanced to their bones, to the lymph nodes, to other parts of the body. We call it metastatic cancer.

Finding cancer when it is confined within the prostate makes all the difference. At that time, it’s very curable, and the cure can come in many different forms. We have nerve sparing procedures in which we can remove the prostate using minimally invasive, robotic surgery, and the patient is cured of the cancer in a majority of times. We have new kinds of radiation therapies that can do the same job in a select group of patients. In many cases, prostate cancer doesn’t even need active treatment. Patients can be closely monitored in what we call “active surveillance.” We have many forms of the treatment. An expert can tell exactly what is suitable for each person, based on the type of cancer, how far it has progressed, and personal choices. Hope is there, but we need to fight it early.

What role does family history play in prostate cancer risk?

When I ask people about their cancer, they often say, “I never talked to anyone in the family about medical issues.” That’s not a good answer. Basically, if people have many members in the family who had prostate cancer, or if there is breast cancer, uterine cancer, or pancreatic cancer in the family, that tells us they are from a family with high risk of prostate cancer. For example, the BRCA2 gene that can increase the risk of breast cancer in women is known to be correlated with a higher risk of prostate cancer. Knowing there are members in your family going through the same journey should make you a little more cautious, and that can save your life.

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