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SYMPTOM: Irregular urination

Be on the lookout for: Any kind of unusual bathroom activity, including weak, frequent, or minimal urination. If you're hitting the bathroom several times a night, for example, it's time to find out what's going on.

Why: A variety of ailments can lead to wonky urination, says Carl Hangee-Bauer, ND, Lac, founder of San Francisco Natural Medicine in California. Weak or frequent urination can be a sign of urinary tract infection, kidney illness, diabetes, or an enlarged prostate, a gland near the bladder found only in men. More common with age, a swollen prostate can lead to increasingly painful and difficult urination and may require medication or surgery. These same symptoms can also indicate prostate cancer, the most common cancer in men, with approximately 186,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Guys need to realize that prostate cancer is often a silent killer, cautions Bonhomme, usually with few or no symptoms in its early stages. That's why it's important for all men to get annual prostate cancer screens starting at age 50, he says; those with a family history or who are African American should start at 40 or earlier.

How to prevent it: Keep that flow going as naturally as possible, says Espinosa, by drinking eight to ten glasses of water a day to help the body flush out possible infection-causing agents. To counter a swelling prostate, Hangee-Bauer recommends 160 mg of standardized extract of saw palmetto, combined with pygeum and pumpkin-seed oil. These extracts help shrink the prostate by inhibiting conversion of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone, which triggers growth in prostate cells. He also suggests 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed a day; a 2008 study found that this omega-3 fatty acid-rich food helped slow the growth of prostate tumors.

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