Want to prevent prostate cancer? Scientists suggest indulge in more sex to prevent prostate cancer

By Syed Akbar

Want to get rid of prostate cancer, which is fast becoming a common health
hazard in men? Just increase your sexual activity and you will be saved from
prostrate cancer to a great extent. Each increase of three ejaculations per
month across the man’s lifetime is associated with a 15 per cent decrease in
the risk of prostate cancer.
According to Dr June Machover Reinisch of The Kinsey Institute and former
professor in the departments of psychology and psychiatry at Indiana
University, USA, it is a myth that excessive sexual activity will increase
the
risk of prostate cancer. The truth is that it will decrease the risk and
keeps the
prostate gland in good function.
Dr June Machover was in Hyderabad to present her research studies on sex
and sexual practices. According to her, many physicians have believed that
men who participate in high levels of sexual activity are at increased
risk for
prostate cancer. One suggested basis for this hypothesis is the
possibility that
increased sexual activity may be an indication of higher levels of androgen
(male hormones) and therefore a higher risk of developing prostate cancer,
which has been related to male hormone levels.
However, a study conducted by a group of researchers from the National
Cancer Institute and John Hopkins and Harvard University revealed that
increased sexual activity will in fact reduce the risk of prostate cancer.
The researchers selected as many as 29,342 men, between 46 and 81 years,
and conducted a study on their sexual pattern for over eight long years. Only
men who did not have a diagnosis of prostate cancer at the beginning of the
eight years were included. So everybody was prostate cancer-free.
At the beginning of the study the men were questioned about the average
number of ejaculations per month they had, between the ages of 20 and 29,
then between 40 and 49, and then during the past year.
The study focused on the frequency of ejaculation, including sexual
intercourse, nocturnal emissions, and masturbation. Every two years after the
beginning of the study the men were asked, again, whether they had received
a diagnosis of prostate cancer.
"Of the 29,342 men who began the study without a diagnosis of prostate
cancer, by the end of eight years 1,449 cases had been diagnosed. That’s
approximately 5 per cent of the men. Remember, they are older in age, so we
expect them to start to get prostate cancer. With every decade that same
percentage get prostate cancer, so we believe that 80 per cent of 80 year
olds
have prostate cancer, and 90 per cent of 90 year olds have prostate cancer,
and 70 per cent of 70 year olds have prostate cancer," Dr June pointed out.
She said between ages 20 and 29 the men reported an average of 15
ejaculations a month. Between 40 and 49, 11 ejaculations a month was
average, and between 50 and 59 9.5 per month. Men 60 and older reported an
average of 5 ejaculations per month.
"Most categories of ejaculatory frequency were not related to the risk of
prostate cancer. However, a lower risk was found in the group of men with
the highest frequency of ejaculation. Each increase of three ejaculations per
month across the man’s lifetime was associated with a 15 per cent decrease in
the risk of prostate cancer. So the more ejaculations you had, the less
likely
you were to have prostate cancer, and every time you had three more as an
average per month, you were 15 per cent less likely to have prostate cancer,"
she said.