By McHugh David

The top ways for men to meet an untimely end fall into three categories: heart disease, cancer, and unintentional injuries. In an effort to give the average guy a fighting chance, Pennington Biomedical Research Faculty put together a study on Men’s Health as part of their ‘Nutrition Series.’

Surprisingly, unintentional injuries (such as falling off of a roof) account for only 6.6% of deaths in men –much less than either of the other two categories. The real killers are cancer and heart disease, which make up 50% of male deaths every year. Heart disease consists of any heart-based affliction – congestive heart failure, heart attack, and coronary heart disease – and out of roughly 320 million Americans, over 81,000,000 (25%) have some form of heart disease.

As for cancer, these rates continue to increase year-over-year with prostate, lung, and colorectal cancer being the most prevalent in men. Based on cancer rates gathered in the 2000s, 41% of people born after 2005 will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their life time.

However, Pennington Biomedical Researchers have found ways for men to lead a healthy lifestyle and try to fend off heart disease and cancer.

A great place to start getting healthier is diet. What you eat has a huge effect on your body chemistry, and Pennington Biomedical recommends eating a variety of foods that include large portions of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and high-protein meats, chicken, eggs, and fish.

There are also some ‘superfoods for men’ provided by Mother Nature to help fight the number one causes of death in males.

These include: seafood; nuts; whole grains; tomatoes; red and orange fruits and vegetables; berries and cherries; green, leafy vegetables; dried beans and lentils; and any type of cruciferous vegetable (such as broccoli and brussel sprouts).