The short version
• The prostate is a small gland below the bladder that makes semen and controls the flow of pee from the bladder to the penis (NHS).
• Changes in how you pee, such as a weaker flow or needing to go more often, are a reason to see your GP, not to reach for a supplement (NHS).
• 54% of men who shared their experience with the government’s men’s health call for evidence said that in the past three years they had not sought medical help for a health concern (Department of Health and Social Care).
• Zinc contributes to the maintenance of normal testosterone levels in the blood and to normal fertility and reproduction. The key word is normal.
• UK men can now expect 60.7 years of life in good health, the lowest figure since the ONS series began (Office for National Statistics).
• Vitamin C, selenium and zinc contribute to the protection of cells from oxidative stress.
• Government advice is that everyone should consider a daily 10 microgram vitamin D supplement during autumn and winter (NHS).
• Adults in England aged 40 to 74 without certain existing conditions are offered a free NHS Health Check every five years (NHS).
• Supplements complement a varied, balanced diet and healthy lifestyle. They are not a way to diagnose, prevent or treat any medical condition.
Most of us wouldn’t drive a car for years without checking the oil, the tyres or the warning lights. Yet when it comes to health, plenty of men take a rather different approach.
If everything still seems to be working, it is tempting to carry on as normal. Book the appointment later. Eat better next month. Start exercising again when work quietens down. And perhaps not think too much about things like prostate health until there is a reason to.
That makes men’s health an interesting contradiction. We are surrounded by more information about fitness, protein, sleep, testosterone and longevity than ever before, yet the less glamorous parts of looking after ourselves can still slip surprisingly far down the list. When the Department of Health and Social Care gathered evidence for England’s first men’s health strategy, 54% of men sharing their lived experience said there had been a time in the previous three years when they had not sought medical help for a health concern (Department of Health and Social Care, call for evidence summary report).
So perhaps men’s health needs a different approach: not waiting until something is wrong, and booking the occasional health MOT instead. And if you’re reading this because you’re thinking about your husband, partner, dad or someone else in your life, you might want to send it to them too.
So, this piece covers seven things worth knowing about men’s health after 40: what the prostate does, how zinc relates to testosterone, why health span matters, the plant compounds worth eating, what oxidative stress actually is, where energy comes from, and the health checks worth booking. We finish with what to look for in a prostate health supplement, using our new Metabolics Prostate Complex as a worked example.
1. What does the prostate do, and why does it matter after 40?
The prostate rarely features in conversations about health when men are younger. Yet it is part of normal male anatomy, and it becomes increasingly relevant with age.
The prostate is a small gland that sits below the bladder. It makes semen and controls the flow of pee from the bladder to the penis (NHS). The tube that carries urine out of the body, the urethra, passes through it, which is why changes in the prostate often show up first as changes in how you pee (NHS). The NHS notes that prostate enlargement, which is common and usually not serious, is most often seen in men over 50 (NHS).
That is also why interest in prostate health tends to spike once men begin to notice changes, rather than as part of a proactive approach to looking after themselves. Looking after prostate health doesn’t mean becoming preoccupied with it. It means knowing what is normal for you, keeping to a healthy weight, staying physically active, eating a varied diet and not ignoring persistent changes.
When should you see a GP about your prostate?
The NHS advises seeing a GP if you have difficulty peeing or need to pee more often. Signs include straining to start, a weak or stop-start flow, feeling that your bladder hasn’t fully emptied, and needing to go more urgently, including at night (NHS). Ask for an urgent GP appointment or contact NHS 111 if you have blood in your pee, pain when peeing or cannot pee at all (NHS). These symptoms can sometimes have more serious causes, so it is important to get them checked (NHS).
Food supplements can complement a varied, balanced diet, but they are not a way to diagnose, prevent or treat a medical condition. If you notice a persistent change in urination, pain, blood in your urine or semen, or anything else that concerns you, speak to your GP rather than trying to manage it with supplements.
2. Does zinc affect testosterone?
Search men’s health online and it doesn’t take long before testosterone appears. But testosterone isn’t only about bodybuilding or trying to turn back the clock.
Zinc contributes to the maintenance of normal testosterone levels in the blood, and to normal fertility and reproduction. Both are health claims authorised on the GB Nutrition and Health Claims Register, the official list of claims permitted for foods and supplements in Great Britain. That makes adequate zinc relevant throughout adult male life, not only to athletes.
The key word is normal. These claims describe zinc’s role in maintaining normal physiological function. They do not mean that more zinc means more testosterone, and zinc isn’t a testosterone treatment.
Adult men need 9.5 mg of zinc a day, and good food sources include meat, shellfish, dairy foods such as cheese, bread and cereal products such as wheatgerm (NHS). If you take more than one supplement, add up your total: the NHS advises against taking more than 25 mg of zinc a day from supplements unless a doctor advises it (NHS).
3. What is health span, and why does it matter for men?
One of the most interesting changes in men’s wellness is the growing conversation around healthy ageing. It isn’t only about how long we live. It’s about how many of those years we spend in good health, which is what health span means.
In the UK, men can now expect to spend 60.7 years of life in good health, the lowest level since the Office for National Statistics began this series in 2011 to 2013 (Office for National Statistics, healthy life expectancy 2022 to 2024). The objective isn’t only living longer. It’s remaining active, independent and engaged with life for as much of the later years as possible.
That makes the basics surprisingly important:
• regular physical activity
• maintaining muscle
• good nutrition
• sleep
• social connection
• not smoking
• moderating alcohol
• keeping up with appropriate health checks
One small, evidence-based step fits here. Between October and early March we don’t make enough vitamin D from sunlight, so government advice is that everyone should consider a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D during autumn and winter (NHS). Vitamin D contributes to normal muscle function and to the normal function of the immune system.
Supplements belong towards the end of that list, not the beginning. They can complement a good diet and lifestyle, but they cannot replace them.
4. Which plant compounds matter in men’s nutrition?
A good diet for men’s health isn’t defined by one magical food. Variety matters.
Tomatoes, colourful vegetables, berries, green tea, nuts, seeds and other plant foods provide an enormous range of naturally occurring compounds. Carotenoids are one example.
Lycopene is the red carotenoid that gives tomatoes much of their colour, and tomatoes are the most common source of lycopene in the Western diet (Antioxidants, 2021). Because lycopene is fat-soluble, eating it with some fat helps absorption, and the body absorbs more from heat-treated tomatoes than from fresh ones (Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, 2021). A tomato sauce made with olive oil is a practical way to put that into your week.
Astaxanthin is another member of the carotenoid family. It is found naturally in microalgae and in seafood such as salmon, trout, krill and shrimp (Ambati et al., Marine Drugs, 2014).
No individual food, nutrient or plant compound should be viewed in isolation. A varied, balanced diet remains the foundation of good nutrition, with supplements used to complement it rather than replace it.
5. What is oxidative stress, and which nutrients are involved?
We hear a lot about antioxidants, although the word can become meaningless marketing jargon. There is a much more precise way to talk about them.
Our cells are continually exposed to reactive molecules generated as part of normal metabolism and through everyday environmental and lifestyle factors. The body has its own antioxidant defence systems to manage these molecules and keep them in balance. Oxidative stress is what happens when that balance tips: when reactive oxygen species are produced faster than the body can deal with them (Pizzino et al., Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, 2017). This is why antioxidant nutrients are part of everyday nutrition, not something to think about only when we are unwell.
Vitamin C, selenium and zinc all contribute to the protection of cells from oxidative stress. They do it in different ways: vitamin C can act as an antioxidant itself, while zinc and selenium are involved in the body’s own antioxidant defence systems. Adult men need 75 micrograms of selenium a day, and good sources include Brazil nuts, fish, meat and eggs (NHS).
6. Can nutrition support everyday energy?
Feeling energetic is often marketed as something that needs another coffee, energy drink or stimulant. Nutrition tells a more complicated story.
Our bodies produce energy continuously, using nutrients from the food we eat through a series of metabolic processes. Vitamin C contributes to normal energy-yielding metabolism and to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue.
But nutrition is only one part of the picture. Sleep, physical activity, stress and overall health all influence how energetic we feel, so regular movement, adequate rest and a varied, balanced diet matter just as much as any individual nutrient.
Feeling persistently tired shouldn’t be accepted as an inevitable part of getting older, either. Persistent or unexplained fatigue deserves proper investigation by your GP, rather than another coffee, energy drink or supplement.
It’s another reminder that men’s health is best seen as a connected picture rather than a series of separate boxes labelled prostate, energy, testosterone and ageing.
7. Which health checks should men have after 40?
This may be the most important point in the article. Have the boring health conversations.
If you live in England, are aged 40 to 74 and don’t already have certain conditions such as heart disease or diabetes, you should be invited for a free NHS Health Check every five years. It usually includes a blood pressure test, a cholesterol test and measurements of your height, weight and waist, and you can ask your GP surgery about it if you haven’t been invited (NHS).
Accept the invitation. Know your blood pressure. Move regularly. Pay attention when something changes. Talk about mental health. And don’t regard making a GP appointment as admitting defeat.
Preventative health is far easier to think about when you don’t wait for a crisis to make it relevant.
How can you help a partner look after his health?
Perhaps you’ve been trying to persuade your husband or partner to take his health a little more seriously. You probably don’t need to overhaul his entire life. You don’t need a cupboard containing twenty supplements either.
Sometimes the most useful starting point is a conversation:
• When did you last have your blood pressure checked?
• Are you moving enough?
• Is there anything health-wise you’ve noticed but keep putting off?
• What are you doing now to look after the version of yourself you’ll be in ten or twenty years?
That is a rather better men’s health strategy than waiting until something goes wrong.
What should you look for in a prostate health supplement?
If you decide a supplement has a place in your routine, the label should be able to explain itself. A few things are worth checking on any product, including ours.
Authorised wording for vitamins and minerals. Claims for nutrients such as zinc, selenium and vitamin C should match the GB Nutrition and Health Claims Register, which uses phrases such as "contributes to". Be wary of any product that says it treats, shrinks, cures or prevents anything.
The Latin name and plant part for botanicals. Nettle root (Urtica dioica) is a different plant part from nettle leaf, and pumpkin seed is listed as Cucurbita pepo. A transparent label tells you which species and which part of the plant you are taking.
Honest labelling of botanical claims. Many botanical health claims are still "on hold" in Great Britain, awaiting final evaluation. A good label or product page says so.
Your total intake. If you also take a multivitamin, add up the zinc and selenium. The NHS advises against more than 25 mg of zinc a day from supplements unless a doctor advises it, and says selenium supplements of 350 micrograms a day or less are unlikely to cause harm (NHS).
Introducing Metabolics Prostate Complex
We’ve brought this wider approach to men’s nutrition together in our new Prostate Complex.
Metabolics Prostate Complex was developed as a comprehensive nutritional formula for adult men, designed to complement a varied diet and healthy lifestyle. Rather than focusing on a single ingredient, it combines nettle root, pumpkin seed, Korean Panax ginseng and green tea extracts with lycopene, astaxanthin and coenzyme Q10, alongside zinc, selenium and vitamins C and D.
Zinc contributes to normal fertility and reproduction and to the maintenance of normal testosterone levels in the blood. Selenium contributes to normal spermatogenesis, while zinc, selenium and vitamin C contribute to the protection of cells from oxidative stress. Vitamin D contributes to normal muscle function. The formula also combines nettle root to support prostate health with pumpkin seed to support normal prostate function.*
It is nutritional support designed to sit alongside the things that matter most: good food, movement, sleep, appropriate health checks and paying attention to your health.
Common questions
What does the prostate do?
The prostate is a small gland below the bladder that makes semen and controls the flow of pee from the bladder to the penis. Because the urethra passes through it, prostate changes often show up as changes in how you pee (NHS).
Does zinc increase testosterone?
Zinc contributes to the maintenance of normal testosterone levels in the blood. That is a role in keeping normal function going, not a promise that more zinc raises testosterone. Adult men need 9.5 mg of zinc a day, and most can get it from a varied diet (NHS).
What is nettle root?
Nettle root is the root of the stinging nettle, Urtica dioica. It is a different plant part from the nettle leaf used in teas, which is why a good label specifies the root. Health claims for nettle root are currently on hold in Great Britain pending final evaluation.
What are the best supplements for men over 40?
There is no single answer, because the right supplement depends on your diet, health and circumstances. One piece of general advice applies to almost everyone in the UK: consider a daily 10 microgram vitamin D supplement in autumn and winter (NHS). Beyond that, a practitioner can help you match nutrients to your needs.
Can a supplement treat prostate problems?
No. Food supplements are not medicines and should not be used to diagnose, prevent or treat any medical condition. If you have difficulty peeing or need to go more often, see your GP (NHS).
How often should men have a health check?
In England, adults aged 40 to 74 without certain existing conditions are offered a free NHS Health Check every five years. If you haven’t been invited, ask your GP surgery (NHS).
Can I take a prostate supplement alongside medication?
If you take any regular medicine, speak to your GP, pharmacist or practitioner before starting a new supplement, so they can check it suits you.
The bottom line
Looking after your health after 40 is less about any single product and more about the basics done consistently: knowing what your prostate does and what is normal for you, eating a varied diet rich in plant foods, moving regularly, considering vitamin D in the darker months and booking the health checks you are offered. Zinc, selenium and vitamins C and D each have recognised roles, and a well-made supplement can complement that foundation. It cannot replace it, and it is never a substitute for seeing your GP about changes that concern you.
Because perhaps the best time to start thinking about men’s health isn’t when something goes wrong. It’s while everything still feels fine.
Food supplements should not be used as a substitute for a varied, balanced diet and healthy lifestyle. If you are taking medication or have a medical condition, consult your healthcare professional before using food supplements. Persistent or concerning urinary symptoms should be discussed with a healthcare professional.
*Botanical statements are based on relevant on-hold (pending) Article 13(1) health claims for Urtica dioica (nettle root) and Cucurbita pepo (pumpkin seed).
