Ejaculating at least 21 times a month significantly reduces a man's risk of prostate cancer, new research reveals.

This is compared to those who release just four-to-seven times every four weeks, a Harvard University study has found.

The findings are true regardless of whether men achieve orgasm through masturbation or sex, the research adds.

Researchers did not speculate on why ejaculation protects against prostate cancer, however, past research suggests it helps to rid the gland of cancer-causing substances and infections.

Ejaculation may also help to ease inflammation, which is a known cause of cancer.

Ejaculating at least 21 times a month significantly reduces a man's risk of prostate cancer

BLOOD TESTS THAT COSTS LESS THAN £50 COULD HELP PROSTATE CANCER PATIENTS GET PERSONALISED TREATMENT A simple blood test could help doctors create personalised treatments for men with prostate cancer, it was revealed back in May. Many men with a slow-growing form of the disease decline treatment if the risk of complications, such as urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction, outweighs its potential benefits. The new test, which costs less than £50, predicts patients who are likely to respond to medication and those who may prefer to 'watchfully wait' and see if their symptoms worsen, according to scientists from the Centre for Evolution and Cancer at The Institute of Cancer Research in London. It looks for multiple copies of a gene for a specific molecule that helps many prostate cancers to grow. Men with multiple copies of the gene respond much worse to the two drugs commonly used to treat prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK, with more than 40,000 new cases being diagnosed every year. Advertisement

How the study was carried out

Researchers from Harvard University analyzed 31,925 healthy men who completed a questionnaire about their ejaculation frequency back in 1992.

Monthly ejaculation frequency was assessed in men aged 20-to-29, 40-to-49 and the year before the questionnaire was completed.

Ejaculation was defined broadly and could be as a result of sex or masturbation.

The men were then followed until 2010.

Some 3,839 of the study's participants were diagnosed with prostate cancer during the investigation.

Key findings

Results revealed that ejaculating at least 21 times a month significantly reduces the risk of prostate cancer in men aged 20-to-29 and 40-to-49.

This is compared to ejaculating just four-to-seven times a month.

The researchers wrote: ‘We found that men reporting higher compared to lower ejaculatory frequency in adulthood were less likely to be subsequently diagnosed with prostate cancer.’

The findings were published in the journal European Urology.

How does ejaculation reduce a man's cancer risk?

The researchers did not speculate on why ejaculation helps to ward off prostate cancer.

Yet, past research by the same university suggests that emptying the prostate of cancer-causing substances and infections may have some benefit.

Ejaculation may also help to reduce prostate inflammation, which is a known cause of the cancer.