Call it progress. American-born men now have a life expectancy of about 75 years--some 30 years longer than a century ago. But despite advances in treating such killers as prostate cancer and heart disease--and new insights into the workings of the male mind--many challenges lie ahead. Men are twice as likely as women to die in accidents or in homicides, three times more likely to be diagnosed with AIDS and four times more likely to take their own lives. They seek out medical care less often than women and often refrain from getting the emotional and social support they need. NEWSWEEK Senior Editor Geoffrey Cowley joined us for a Live Talk on Thursday, June 12, at noon ET, to discuss the issues most affecting men's bodies and minds. Read the transcript below.

New: During Live Talks, you can chat with the other audience members in MSNBC's News Chat.

Men's Health Special Section Front

Geoffrey Cowley has led NEWSWEEK's medical coverage since 1990, working both as a writer and an editor to produce groundbreaking articles on topics ranging from brain science to global health. In news stories, cover articles and special reports, Cowley has chronicled countless trends in medicine and public health, from the advent of Prozac and the sequencing of the genome to the failures of profit-driven health care and the boom in complementary and alternative medicine. He was among the first American journalists to recognize the promise of evolutionary psychology, the significance of chronic fatigue syndrome and the hazards of the sleep medication Halcion. By reporting in 1992 that the drug's approval was based on tainted data, he triggered an FDA inquiry that lasted several years and brought changes in the agency's drug-approval process.

In recent years, Cowley's work has helped NEWSWEEK win several nominations for the National Magazine Award, the most prestigious prize in U.S. magazine journalism. His contributions include a 2002 special report on integrative medicine, a 1998 cover story on the science of memory and 1997 cover stories on heart disease and childhood asthma. Cowley joined NEWSWEEK as a general editor in March 1988. He was promoted to senior writer in August 1988 and to senior editor in August 1997. He came to NEWSWEEK from The Sciences, where he had been a senior editor since 1985.

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Geoffrey Cowley: Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for tuning in. Let's talk about men's health.

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Corpus Christi, TX: An African-American friend was diagnosed with prostate cancer on more than half of the prostate, and he was scheduled to have surgery six months later. Meanwhile he fought against the cancer by eating a quarter of a raw beet daily plus raw mushrooms and raw cabbage. The result was that he was given a clean bill of health with no need for surgery or radiation. My question at this time is: Has anyone else had experienced this success by eating raw beets, raw mushrooms and raw cabbage?

Geoffrey Cowley: Wow, this guy has a strong stomach. The vegetables you mention are rich in antitumor compounds, and we should all eat them in abundance. If you have an advanced malignancy, a healthy diet is all the more important, but beets, cabbage and mushrooms are not established remedies for advanced tumors. Your friend's remission may have been spontaneous.

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Los Angeles, CA: Any remedy against short-term memory?

Geoffrey Cowley: Yes, excessive alcohol is an excellent remedy against short-term memory.

For preserving short-term memory, sleep, exercise and stress management (yoga, meditation, etc) are all good bets. A book you may find helpful is "The Memory Bible," by Dr. Gary Small of UCLA. It's just out in paperback from Hyperion Books. He has developed a retention strategy he calls "look, snap, connect."

1: LOOK: actively observe what you want to learn
2: SNAP: create a vivid snapshot and memorable image
3: CONNECT: visualize a link to associate images

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Brooklyn, NY: My total cholesterol is 160, but I have low HDL and low LDL. Should I be worried?

Geoffrey Cowley: Two decades ago, total cholesterol was the only lipid measurement you could get. High was bad and low was good. As you know, things have gotten a lot more nuanced.

First came the distinction between LDL and HDL. LDL is the bad cholesterol that lodges in the walls of coronary arteries and leads to plaque formation. HDL is the good cholesterol that clears LDL from the vessels. Whether your total cholesterol is high or low, you need a good balance of these two lipids. Ideally, HDL should make up a third of your total cholesterol. If your total cholesterol is 160, you want your HDL in the neighborhood of 55.

The picture is now getting even more interesting. As David Noonan explains in our special report on men's health, a new generation of blood tests can now distinguish between bad and REALLY bad LDL (the super bad stuff is called "small LDL"). New tests also distinguish between good and REALLY good HDL (the super good stuff is called HDL2B).

Cholesterol is an important indicator of heart-attack risk, but it's not the only one worth thinking about. Half of the people who suffer heart attacks don't have red-flag cholesterol readings. For people at "intermediate risk," still other tests can gauge the level of inflammation and calcification in the blood vessels. The tests are expensive and not everyone needs them. But if you fall into that gray area, you may want to ask your physician about them.

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Novi, MI: Why wasn't cyrosurgery listed in the cures for prostate cancer? I had this treatment two years ago and my PSA went from 5.3 to a negative figure for three successive tests. I was also able to give able to stop using the pads after 11 months. I am 82 years old. My Gleason was over 6. I had no symptoms of prostate cancer which was discovered in my yearly exam by my internist.

Geoffrey Cowley: Cryosurgery (which involves freezing the diseased tissue) shows real promise as a treatment for localized prostate cancer. The technique, pioneered by surgeons at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, promises less pain and quicker recovery than traditional surgery. A 2001 review article in Medscape (an online medical journal) notes that the procedure's "lackluster early performance created a negative perception" but concludes that "changes in instrumentation and technique that have improved prostate cryosurgery results." I would certainly look into it if I were a patient.

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Winder, GA: "But we're not always worse off for it. Hierarchies can produce harmony as well as strife and injustice. And even if we can't level them, there is no question we can make them more benign."

If nature knows best, then why are more benign hierarchies desirable? Your statement belies the moral that all men are created equal. We all know this. But by appealing to biological theories and extrapolating greatly beyond the available data, we again use "science" as an excuse for selfishness and hedonism.

Geoffrey Cowley: I was not arguing that nature knows best. My point was that nature saddles us with impulses and predispositions that can be hugely destructive. Rather than pretend that males are designed solely for cooperation and compassion, I think we should acknowledge the drive for dominance, and strive to prevent its harsher manifestations. Hierarchies can be benign or malignant, but stable ones--in which the top dog governs by consent rather than force--are definitely a better deal than anarchy. Anarchy would be fine if we were completely communal and altruistic by nature. Unfortunately, we're not.

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St. Cloud, MN: Are there any books or Web sites that you recommend for middle aged men to get useful workout information/guidelines?

Geoffrey Cowley: There are countless good ones. One Web site worth looking at is www.intelihealth.com. Its fitness section provides excellent background on the benefits of exercise. It also provides tools to get you started on a regimen that's right for you.

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Tulsa, OK: Does taking saw palmetto interfere with the PSA test?

Geoffrey Cowley: Saw palmetto can help offset the benign prostate enlargement we experience with age. I've never heard of it interfering with a PSA test (which is used as an indicator of prostate cancer risk). PSA results can vary in response to various factors. For that reason, some doctors prefer to track changes in PSA over time instead of relying on a single reading.

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Santa Fe, NM: Is this drive to achieve one-upmanship by males influenced by their social status, ethnicity or educational accomplishments? How about birth order what impact does this have on man's drive to achieve status?

Geoffrey Cowley: Interesting question. Men do vary widely in temperament. Those with a strong drive for dominance--a common characteristic of first-born children--may in fact achieve higher rank on average. Frank Sulloway, an historian of science, has written a fascinating book about birth order and its effect on temperament. You can read about his work at www.sulloway.org/borntorebel.html.

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La Jolla, CA : What role do nutritional supplements play in heart health?

Geoffrey Cowley: If you're eating well, exercising, not smoking and managing the stress in your life, nutritional supplements are not likely to make or break your cardiovascular health. But many experts believe that a multivitamin is still worth taking as extra insurance.

Homocysteine, one of the newly recognized risk factors for heart disease, tends to rise in people who don't get enough vitamin B6 and folic acid. Almost any multivitamin will ensure that you get your share of those critical nutrients.

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Dallas, TX: From "Why we strive for status," you said that men with high status enjoy more sex with more partners than the rest of us. I can NOT understand how that should be the case. If they are married, they are cheating on their wives, and mentally their conscience should suffer (assuming they are good human beings); if they are NOT married, staying single is going to have a bad effect on their health, and statistically speaking, more successful men are married.

Thanks.

Geoffrey Cowley: That statement was based on a study conducted by Daniel Perusse in 1993. He collected data on roughly 1,100 French Canadian men, both married and single, and found a positive correlation between social status and the number of potential conceptions (number of kids each man might have fathered in the absence of contraceptives). The correlation was strongest for the single men, who were freer to pursue multiple partners, but it held among married men as well. Infidelity is part of the story, but so is divorce and remarriage.

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Gifford, PA: In regards to the article "A Healthy Heart" and the new diagnostic testing called Electron-Beam Tomography (EBT) I could only foresee one problem. I have two of the major risk factors for heart disease, which are high cholesterol and my family history. I am a 36-year-old whose mother had her first heart attack when she was 35 and her last at 57. Now, with the EBT, is it possible to have this test administered to the lower-middle-class male like myself whose insurance would more than likely not approve such a procedure?

Geoffrey Cowley: You make a good point. Until EBT has been studied extensively enough to have clear benefits for certain types of patients, insurers are likely to deny reimbursement for it. Private clinics market it to people who can foot the bill on their own. It's fairly expensive, but for someone with your risk profile it may be worth saving up for.

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Barney, GA: I'm 71 years old--what free-weight regimen do you recommend?

Geoffrey Cowley: If you've never worked with free weights, I'd suggest making an appointment with a trainer or a physician who can get you started on a regimen. You'll start with light weights and work up gradually to heavier ones. The benefits of weight training are remarkable at any age, but it's easy to hurt yourself if you don't learn the proper form.

Looks like our time is up. Thanks for joining me. Stay active, and stay well.