Multiple Partners And Prostrate Cancer

According to a new study, men who sleep with multiple women are almost a third less likely to develop the disease. Researchers found men who have more than 20 notches on their bedpost slashed their risk of prostate cancer by 28 per cent. And the study also revealed that men who have slept with more than 20 women reduced their chances of getting the most aggressive tumours by 19 per cent. Celibacy, on the other hand, doubles the risk of the disease.

Prostate cancer is the most common male cancer in the UK, with 41,700 new cases diagnosed and 10,800 deaths each year. The findings add to evidence that regular intercourse may flush out cancer causing chemicals as the prostate secretes the bulk of the fluid in semen. it is the first study to suggest the number of female partners is what matters, rather than the amount of sex, or even masturbation. But asked if it meant public health authorities will be encouraging men to sleep with many women in their lives to protect against prostate cancer, Professor Marie-Elise Parent replied: 'We are not there yet.'

Another theory for the protective effect of sex is it reduces calcifications in the prostate, a gland located between the bladder and the penis, just in front of the rectum. Professor Parent, of the University of Montreal, said: 'It is possible that having many female sexual partners results in a higher frequency of ejaculations, whose protective effect against prostate cancer has been previously observed in cohort studies.'

When I read in the evening standard that having multiple partners could reduce the risk of prostrate cancer, I was amazed, another good excuse to promote promiscuity.