Scientists from the Cancer Council Victoria in Melbourne asked 1,079 men with prostate cancer about their sexual habits. Their answers were then compared to those given by 1,259 healthy men who were free of the disease.

According to New Scientist magazine, the researchers say the more men ejaculate between the ages of 20 and 50, the more they seemed to be protected against prostate cancer.

This protective effect also seemed to be greater for men in their 20s. For example, those who ejaculated five times or more at this age were a third less likely to develop prostate cancer in later life, according to the study published in BJU International.

The results, say the researchers are at odds with previous studies, which found that having a high levels of sexual activity, or many partners, increased the risk of prostate cancer development by up to 40 per cent. However, the present study differed in that it asked about numbers of ejaculations, rather than frequency of sexual intercourse.

The team speculates that infections caused by intercourse could be responsible for the increased risk of prostate cancer in previous studies.

They add that the reason for the protective effects conferred by increased ejaculations could be because carcinogens are prevented from building up in the glands.

“It’s a prostatic stagnation hypothesis,” said lead researcher Graham Giles. “The more you flush the ducts out, the less there is to hang around and damage the cells that line them.”

Alternatively ejaculation may induce prostate cancer cells to fully mature, thus making them less susceptible to carcinogens.

Whatever the reasons, if the findings are confirmed, doctors will not only be prescribing changes in diet and exercise habits as a means of reducing the risk of prostate cancer.

Anthony Smith, deputy director of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University in Melbourne, said, “Masturbation is part of people’s sexual repertoire. If these findings hold up, then it’s perfectly reasonable that men should be encouraged to masturbate.”

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