Masturbating may protect against prostate cancer

Douglas Fox, Adelaide

It will make you go blind. It will make your palms grow hairy. Such myths about masturbation are largely a thing of the past. But the latest research has even better news for young men: frequent self-pleasuring could protect against the most common kind of cancer.

A team in Australia led by Graham Giles of The Cancer Council Victoria in Melbourne asked 1079 men with prostate cancer to fill in a questionnaire detailing their sexual habits, and compared their responses with those of 1259 healthy men of the same age. The team concludes that the more men ejaculate between the ages of 20 and 50, the less likely they are to develop prostate cancer.

The protective effect is greatest while men are in their twenties: those who had ejaculated more than five times per week in their twenties, for instance, were one-third less likely to develop aggressive prostate cancer later in life (BJU International, vol 92, p 211).

The results contradict those of previous studies, which have suggested that having had many sexual partners, or a high frequency of sexual activity, increases the risk of prostate cancer by up to 40 per cent. The key difference is that these earlier studies defined sexual activity as sexual intercourse, whereas the latest study focused on the number of ejaculations, whether or not intercourse was involved.

	The prostate produces part of the fluid that makes up semen

The team speculates that infections caused by intercourse may increase the risk of prostate cancer. "Had we been able to remove ejaculations associated with sexual intercourse, there should have been an even stronger protective effect of other ejaculations," they suggest. "Men have many ways of using their prostate which do not involve women or other men," Giles adds.

Macho exaggeration

Giles accepts the possibility that the men who completed the questionnaires could have lied about their habits. But he doubts this skewed the results, since questions about masturbation are unlikely to evoke the same macho exaggeration as questions about, say, number of sexual partners.

But why should ejaculating more often cut the risk of prostate cancer? The team speculates that ejaculation prevents carcinogens building up in the gland. The prostate, together with the seminal vesicles, secretes the bulk of the fluid in semen, which is rich in substances such as potassium, zinc, fructose and citric acid.

Generating the fluid involves concentrating these components from the bloodstream up to 600-fold - and this could be where the trouble starts. Studies in dogs show that carcinogens such as 3-methylcholanthrene, found in cigarette smoke, are also concentrated in prostate fluid.

"It's a prostatic stagnation hypothesis," says Giles. "The more you flush the ducts out, the less there is to hang around and damage the cells that line them."

Sexual repertoire

His findings suggest an intriguing parallel between prostate cancer and breast cancer, as recent studies indicate that lactating reduces a woman's risk of breast cancer, perhaps because this also flushes out carcinogens. Alternatively, ejaculation might induce prostate cells to mature fully, making them less susceptible to carcinogens.

"All these mechanisms are totally speculative," cautions breast cancer expert Loren Lipworth of the International Epidemiology Institute in Rockville, Maryland.

But if the finding is confirmed, future health advice from doctors may no longer be restricted to diet and exercise. "Masturbation is part of people's sexual repertoire," says Anthony Smith, deputy director of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University in Melbourne.

"If these findings hold up, then it's perfectly reasonable that men should be encouraged to masturbate," he says.

Last Week’s Notes:

Before the Run

This week's run took us to the World Cup Stadium area for an exciting trail laid by former GM Twin Cheeks.  I am sure that if anyone would have run the actual trail they would have thought the same.  We were told that the trail was very "shortcutable".....  

The Run

This was apparent from the first check which took us over 20 minutes to find the "On In".  I, however, did not notice the whole pack went left at the check (near the swimming pool) to see that so I went right and picked up the actual trail.

The trail was very urban and very swept up by the time so there was lot of hangulmal used which usually led to an ajuma yelling at me because some guy put flour all over the place.  I just smiled and kept going.  

I finally got to one of the beautiful creeks near the stadium and was just following the arrows in the correct direction only to realize I was coming head on with CASSper and Taint Tickler (two hashers that were not at the start....).  They said they could not find trail but also found the "On In" so they ran it backwards and I should go with them.  Using the age old Asian form of conformity I agreed and went along, it was also a lot closer to the beer so now you know the real reason.

After getting back to the vehicles I noticed many of the original pack that went right back to the start, or should I say "finished the trail". 

The Circle

The Hash Horn was blown and the fun began.  No EM's were present (and the weather was great), so former GM Double Orange assisted by giving the Benediction.  

It was then on to the Hare.  Not much was said about the trail because as mentioned before, NO ONE RAN THE TRAIL!!!  He attempted to defend himself and I feel he did a great job by presenting Rover with some birthday gifts because it was in fact his birthday.  It was then time for Twin Cheeks to point out who the Wingee was for the evening (drum roll..........) and it was none other than Double Orange!!  Double O properly asked for permission to piss off (again) and then he sang a little song called "I don't want to join the army".  A favorite I might add of the HonSec.  

It was then on the Categories.  We had no HashCash so we had NO paid up hashers, NO returnees, BUT we did have a couple guests.  Taint Tickler came up from Osan for his last SHHH or as HE puts it "The Men's Hash" and he asked for permission to piss off permanently as well and reported that he would be in Thailand for a month before going to Fayettenam, aka Fort Bragg, North Carolina.  We also had another guest of Seek and Suck who told a joke about something dealing with Aussies.  

The OB1 one entertained us with a fake picture of the worlds largest woman that he made on his computer.  The GM at that point decided that he needed a drink to lead him into the Little Johnny jokes.  After two or three that we never heard before it was time for our 'stand in' HashFlash CASSper.  Mega bonus points for CASSper because he brought both Twin Cheeks and Rover World Cup towels as birthday gifts.  Then he proceeded to tell a golf joke from a piece of paper and missed the punchline;  he brought gifts, I didn't even think he should have to tell a joke!!

 About that time late cummer CPT Marvel arrived because he wanted splashed.  Apparently with all the excitement the week before he forgot to ask permission to leave since he will be working a little south of Seoul and north of Busan.  After that it was Double Orange who properly used geography to send us Way Down South. 

The OnOn
The OnOn was again at the Three Alleys Pub where we met up with Pork Grind here for a vacation with his Korean stewardess wife.  Pork Grind promised to make it out to a run before returning to Colorado.

-- Bend Over Rover

[Special thanks to CASSper for taking the Circle Pix!]