Research: confusion over effects of sexual activity

Research linking frequent s-x and masturbation in young men to an increased prostate cancer risk could be skewed due to a British aversion to being labelled “wankers”, an Australian expert warns.

A new British study found men diagnosed with prostate cancer reported more frequent ejaculations in their 20s and 30s, leading researchers to conclude it was a possible risk factor.

But this runs counter to a major Melbourne-based study published in 2003, which took in 2000 men and found that increased sexual activity reduced the cancer risk.

The Australian study was led by the head of cancer epidemiology at Cancer Council Victoria, Professor Graham Giles, and he said his results were confirmed by another major study.

“They found that men who were ejaculating the most in their 20s, had about a third of the risk of prostate cancer than men who were ejaculating less frequently,” Professor Giles said. “So there’s two studies that show this protective effect and one smaller study from Nottingham that shows the opposite.”

The British study’s lead author, Dr Polyxeni Dimitropoulou, wrote in the journal BJU International, “Overall we found a significant association between prostate cancer and sexual activity in a man’s twenties, and between masturbation and prostate cancer in the twenties and thirties.”

But Professor Giles said he suspected men with cancer were more likely to be honest about their sexual practices and history, particularly when it came to masturbation. “And I just wonder whether the poms are still a bit bashful”.

Canberra Times, 29/1/09, p5

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