prostate cancer, Ejaculation frequency, prostate stagnation hypothesis
Ejaculation frequency may represent a potentially modifiable risk factor for prostate cancer, new findings reveal.
The prospective cohort study analyzed data from 31,925 men who participated in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. In 1992, the participants were tasked to answer questionnaires on their average ejaculation frequency, and were then followed-up for 18 years until 2010. Participants were assessed at three time points: At ages 20-29 years old, 40-49 years old, as well as the year before the questionnaire distribution.
During the course of those 18 years, 3,989 participants were found to be diagnosed with prostate cancer of varying degrees of severity. The findings show that prostate cancer’s relative risk is lower in participants with ejaculation frequency of 21 times per month compared to those who reported only 4 to 7 times a month. In participants with higher ejaculation frequency, the risk of prostate cancer diagnosis was found to have been reduced by 19 per cent at ages 20-29 and 22 per cent at ages 40-49.
Frequency of ejaculation matters
In a study published in the European Urology, researchers from Boston University School of Public Health reported that men with higher frequency of ejaculation are less likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer.The prospective cohort study analyzed data from 31,925 men who participated in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. In 1992, the participants were tasked to answer questionnaires on their average ejaculation frequency, and were then followed-up for 18 years until 2010. Participants were assessed at three time points: At ages 20-29 years old, 40-49 years old, as well as the year before the questionnaire distribution.
During the course of those 18 years, 3,989 participants were found to be diagnosed with prostate cancer of varying degrees of severity. The findings show that prostate cancer’s relative risk is lower in participants with ejaculation frequency of 21 times per month compared to those who reported only 4 to 7 times a month. In participants with higher ejaculation frequency, the risk of prostate cancer diagnosis was found to have been reduced by 19 per cent at ages 20-29 and 22 per cent at ages 40-49.
Ejaculation benefits
Investigators also noted that average monthly ejaculation of 13 times or greater amongst participants at ages 20-29 is associated with a 27 per cent risk-reduction in the diagnosis of intermediate risk prostate cancer.“’More frequent ejaculation in the absence of risky sexual behaviors could represent an important means of reducing the profound medical costs, and physical and psychological side effects of unnecessary diagnosis and treatment of low-risk tumors, even though it appears to be less strongly associated with aggressive disease,’ the researchers concluded in their online report,” Dr. Jennifer R. Rider, assistant professor of epidemiology stated in Boston University’s news release.
“This large prospective study provides the strongest evidence to date of a beneficial role of ejaculation in prevention of prostate cancer – a disease for which relatively little is understood about etiology generally, and knowledge of modifiable risk factors is particularly scant,” Dr. Rider added.
On the mechanism, Dr. Rider commented that the long-standing “prostate stagnation hypothesis” may explain the inverse relationship between ejaculation frequency and risk of prostate cancer. It is postulated that prostate may accumulate substances such as heavy metals, infections and potentially carcinogenic secretions that can lead to prostate cancer, hence more frequent clearance can be beneficial to prostate health. MIMS
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