Frequent Ejaculation May Help Prevent Prostate Cancer

Researchers have discovered more evidence that frequent ejaculation can significantly reduce a man’s risk of developing prostate cancer. These findings were presented on May 15 at the American Urological Association (AUA) 2015 Annual Meeting in New Orleans.             

Research suggesting that frequent ejaculation reduces prostate cancer risk isn’t new. There have been quite a few studies, such as this one, which was published by JAMA in 2004, that gave compelling evidence to support this theory. However, this latest study offers what lead author Jennifer Rider, ScD, MPH calls “the strongest evidence to date.” However, she did note that the data presented is observational and that man should use caution when interpreting it.

For the purposes of this study, Dr. Rider and her team of researchers at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston looked at 18 years’ worth of data on 32,000 men who participated in the prospective Health Professionals Follow-up Study. During the course of the study, 3,839 participants were diagnosed with incident prostate cancer; 384 of these cases proved lethal.

The men who participated in the study were periodically asked to report how many times, on average, they ejaculated in a month. A lifetime average for each man was computed using this information. Some of the findings of the study included:

• The risk of prostate cancer was 20% lower for who men who ejaculated at least 21 times a month than in men who ejaculated 4 to 7 times a month.
• There was no association between ejaculation frequency and the risk of high-grade, advanced or lethal disease; the reason for this exception is not known.
• Most men between the ages of 40 and 49 ejaculated 8 to 12 times per month.
• Men who reported at least 21 ejaculations per month at ages 40 to 49 were more likely to be divorced.

Dr. Jesse Sammon, a urologist at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit was in attendance for Dr. Rider’s presentation. He was impressed by the “incredibly high-quality data” and told Medscape Medical News that the presentation “was the highlight of the session on cancer epidemiology.”

You can learn more by reading the full article here.