A bleak outlook to be sure. And it looks even worse when you factor in the number of men who have never had their prostates examined. And why should they? There are no symptoms, the examination can be uncomfortable and even humiliating for some men, and because men are intrinsically afraid of anything that might represent a real or imagined loss of virility, the whole issue of prostate health is difficult to face on an emotional level. When there’s no disruption in urinary or sexual function, it’s easy to have an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” attitude.

What happens is that by the time one in four American men actually get to their doctors for an exam, cancer may already be in its early stages. The standard treatment choices: surgery, radiation, and hormonal therapy are of limited effectiveness and have major side effects such as incontinence and impotence, which occur in about 80 percent of cases, although doctors claim the number is closer to 20 percent. Many physicians tend to focus on avoiding imminent death, while glossing over the side effects that can seriously erode the patient’s quality of life. The commonly held belief in the medical community is benign prostate enlargement and cancer is a normal part of male aging, a fact of life to which we should unquestioningly resign ourselves. But Los Angeles-based attorney, author, and researcher Larry Clapp wasn’t willing to take such a fatalistic view when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1991. He refused to have surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy, and opted instead to investigate alternatives. What he found was prostate problems don’t exist in other cultures, and he concluded that prostate illness was neither inevitable nor incurable. Clapp propelled himself into an intensive research effort to evaluate both traditional and alternative healing methods, and the results became the basis of the healing program that ultimately cured his cancer.

The foundation for the program Clapp followed is the Nobel Prize-winning work of Otto Warburg, who won the coveted award in 1931 for proving that cancer cannot live in cells that are in pH balance. According to Clapp, most of us living in an urban environment are very acidic, and therefore unwitting hosts to prostate and other cancers. The prostate is especially vulnerable, and the goal is to achieve a pH balance that will increase the flow of blood and oxygen to the prostate and force the cancer cells to return to normal cells. The program is based primarily on balancing the pH by clearing toxins from the body, improving the diet, exercising, and working toward a healthier emotional and sexual life.

any of the toxic offenders are well known: air pollution, water pollution, chemically enhanced processed foods, and animal foods raised with antibiotics and fattening hormones that weaken our metabolism and damage our immune systems. Less well known, yet potent and responsible for a myriad of problems, are the mercury-laden silver-amalgam dental fillings that most of us have had in our teeth since we were young children. Over 20 years ago, we read news reports in which human cancer was linked to the mercury content in fish. If silver-amalgam fillings contain 50 percent mercury, consider how much greater the poisonous effect on the human body over a lifetime of sustained mercury contact. The mercury issue is so important that the Swedish government actually pays citizens to have their silver amalgam fillings removed in order to save healthcare dollars by eliminating the need to treat these people for cancer in the future. In Germany, where dentistry is not a separate discipline but is part of general medicine, amalgam is no longer used. German medicine has also pioneered the more difficult and more important work of removing the mercury from the body tissue and nerves after it has been removed from the teeth.

A key part of Clapp’s program is the Biological Terrain Assessment (BTA), a European test that is gaining popularity in the U.S. The BTA is a major breakthrough, measuring pH, reduction oxidation, and the resistivity of the blood, saliva and urine, to two decimal places. These nine measures provide an in-depth view of the body’s present condition, revealing levels of dysfunction that traditional tests don’t encompass. With present weaknesses precisely established, a healing program can be mapped out and, equally important, progress or lack of progress can be monitored and precisely adjusted weekly, monthly, or quarterly.

In Clapp’s case, after two months of following his new health regimen, blood tests (PSA, CEA, Albumin) showed his cancer was receding, and physical examination of the prostate was normal. Several years later, however, the cancer returned because he had not yet learned how to precisely measure and balance pH. But by applying the new knowledge, refined over years of study of The Ultimate Fast, supplements, homeopathic and pH balance monitored by the BTA, Clapp was again cancer free within two months. Not only did he overcome the "Big C," but he actually became far healthier than he was at the start.

Clapp emphasizes how important it is for men and women to become more educated about their bodies and take more responsibility for their health, as opposed to blindly following standardized courses of treatment, which are often fear based non-choices. As an example of how we can take our health care into our own hands, Clapp outlines a Nine Point Program designed to defeat cancer by strengthening the body’s natural defenses and balancing pH so that cancer cannot live in the body. An overview of what the program can accomplish:

1. Thoroughly cleans colon and intestines of plaque and debris.

2. Rejuvenates the lymph system.

3. Eliminates parasites from entire body: joints, brain, muscles, and gut.

4. Eliminates toxins.

5. Reduces dangerous acidity and moves the body toward pH balance.

6. Releases emotional blocks that block flow of blood and oxygen.

7. Eliminates dental sources of toxins and ill health.

8. Re-energizes the mind, body, and spirit.

9. Clears organs, including prostate, allowing them to do their jobs.

"The prostate is the vital center from which men derive their vitality, creative energy, and sexual drive. Without it, that spark which is the basis of quality of life, overall health, and sex drive is severely diminished. That’s why it’s so important to heal it rather than remove it and to start taking care, before trouble begins," Clapp says. "This can be done by making lifestyle changes that include monitoring the pH, eating better, building health with exercise and body work, releasing old emotions, developing an awareness of the toxins around us, enhancing our sex lives, and many other health-ensuring measures."