MULTIPLE studies affirmed that ejaculation benefits the prostate by reducing the risk of cancer. On the contrary, the issue with multiple partners appears to cement with contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Hence, men should use condoms (Prof. Nyarkotey, 2022) to reduce their risk of infec-tions
I have taken with keen interest the many reports in our media space educating men that frequent ejaculation reduces men's risk of prostate cancer. However, what the report also failed to do is to educate the men as well that studies also confirmed that more multiple sexual partners a man has increased his risk of prostate cancer. Sex and Prostate Health are important issues that need sound education.
Also, whether too little can lead to stagnation and too much can weaken the body by depleting energy reserves is another issue. For instance, Monks and recluse meditators benefited from non-sex-ual prostate massage because otherwise, a stagnant prostate could not eliminate toxins in celibate monks. Prostate massage provides stimulus to the prostate result-ing in increased blood flow, fluid movement, and improved prostate health.
Ronald M Bazaar, author of the Healthy Prostate notes that in the Tantric and Taoist traditions of the East, advanced sexual techniques were developed so that men could control their ejaculations. It was thought that frequent ejaculations would weaken a man. So tech-niques of injaculation were devel-oped whereby semen is released internally and retained in the body.
Developing control of the male G-spot, the prostate gland, is how this was done. This spot is the perineum area just about an inch below the scrotum. The ques-tion of how often to ejaculate is another issue. In those Eastern traditions, the older a man became, it was recommended he ejaculate less ... But injaculations were fine. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, one should ejaculate using your decade for the number of times per day: eg. If you are under 30, then every 3 days, if you are under 70 every 7 days.
In this article, I examined the literature attesting to the facts about men's prostate health and sex from two perspectives: whether frequent ejaculation reduces men's prostate cancer risk and also whether multiple sexual partners increase their pros-tate cancer risk as well.
DOES SEX HARM YOUR PROSTATE GLAND?
The obvious answer is NO!
Sex in general is very good for your prostate. We were designed to have sex as a natural part of life. Releasing seminal fluids and ejacula-tion both produced in the prostate and other areas of the sexual organs is highly beneficial to the prostate because it moves fluids that can stagnate in the prostate.
However, that all said, there may be times when we have to be careful around the prostate. Sex and prostate health do go hand in hand!
Is sex good for your prostate?
Sex is a natural and very benefi-cial function for the prostate gland because it moves fluids and helps to reduce toxins that can build up in the prostate gland. Remember one of the functions of the prostate is to remove toxins. One of the reasons that prostate massage is recommended is to help in the removal of these toxins. Sex does this automatically as long as we ejaculate.
The question of Multiple Sexual Partners and Prostate Cancer Risk
I examined the first question on whether the more women men sleep with it increases their prostate cancer risk based on sound literature. The first study was conducted by Rosen-blatt et al. (2001) a 3-year population-based case-control study of prostate cancer per-formed in King County, Wash-ington, in White men and Black men aged 40-64 years, between 1993 and 1996. They found risk estimates increased directly with the lifetime number of fe-male sexual partners a man has sex with. I have much interest in this particular study because black men were involved and associations with more female partners were found.
Also, the second study was done by Dennis and Dawson(2002), a meta-analysis of the association between prostate cancer and aspects of sexual activity. These results indi-cate an association between prostate cancer and sexually transmitted infections, suggesting that infec-tions may represent one mechanism through which prostate cancer de-velops. In this study, multiple sexual partners were not found.
Another study (Stark et al.2009) found a quarter of men with prostate cancer showed signs of trichomoniasis, and these were more likely to have advanced tumours. The study suggests how the sexually transmitted infection might make men more vulnerable to prostate cancer, although it is not definitive proof of such a link. So you will also note that in this study and Dennis and Dawson(2002), multiple sexual partners were not found but prostate cancer was linked to STDs.
Another review(Kotb et al. 2015) found multiple sexual partners may be protective against prostate cancer, excluding the risk of sexually transmitted infections. The study further held that Homosexual men are at a greater risk for the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Interestingly, this study rather contradicts those who found multiple sexual partners and prostate cancer risk and rather said the more women, men sleep with protects them from prostate cancer if and only if men can prevent contracting STDs from multiple partners.
A more recent study done by Cirakoglu et al.(2018) assessed the relationship between the number of sexual partners, age of first sexual experience, and age of first mastur-bation and prostate cancer inci-dence. The study was done between January 2013 and September 2016 and found that at younger ages and present, their first masturbation ages, first sexual debut ages, and total sexual partner numbers were recorded. They concluded that there may be an association between the number of sexual partners and prostate cancer. They concluded that avoidance of sexual promiscu-ity or participation in protected sex may be beneficial to protect against prostate cancer.
Another was done by Minas et al.(2018) who found that sexual activity may increase the risk of prostate cancer due to the con-traction of sexually transmitted infections. This study, however, did not assess the number of lifetime female partners engaged.
Fast forward, (Grabovac et al. 2019) investigated this possibility and enrolled about 2,500 men and 3,200 women who were 50 or older (average age 64). Each per-son was surveyed about the total number of sexual partners they'd had throughout their lives. This information was compared with several medical conditions they'd developed, including cancer, heart disease, and stroke.
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The study demonstrated that:
- Men who reported 10 or more sexual partners in their life were nearly 70% more likely to have developed cancer when compared with those reporting 0 or 1 lifetime sexual partner.
- For women, the findings were even more dramatic: women who reported 10 or more sexual partners in their life were nearly 91% more likely to have developed cancer when compared with those reporting 0 or 1 lifetime sexual partner.
Men were more likely than women to report having at least 10 partners (22% of men vs. 8% of women) while women were more likely to have fewer partners (41% of women and 28.5% of men re-ported having had 0 to 1 partner).
It's worth noting this study was performed in England with health information initially collected in the late 1990s. The results could have been different if researchers had assessed the risk of a different population or at a different point in time. In addition, self-reporting was relied upon to assess sexual behavior, and no association was found.
BY PROF. RAPHAEL NYARKOTEY OBU
To be continued
