Sleeping with more than 20 women can reduce risk of prostate cancer

There’s good news for the Casanovas of the world. Researchers at the University of Montreal and INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier found that men who had slept with more than 20 women during their lifetime were 28 per cent less likely to develop prostate cancer, compared to those who had had only one female sexual partner. However, the same did not apply to gay men. They found that having more than 20 male partners doubled the risk of prostate cancer and made an aggressive cancer five times more likely. Sleeping with one male partner did not affect the risk.

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.

Lead researcher Professor Marie-Elise Parent, from the University of Montreal

The findings are from the Prostate Cancer & Environment Study in which 3,208 men answered questions about their lifestyle and sex lives. Of these men, 1,590 were diagnosed with prostate cancer between September 2005 and August 2009, while 1,618 men were part of the control group. Overall, men with prostate cancer were twice as likely as others to have a relative with cancer, but the study also found a possible link with their number of sexual partners.

We now know that the number and type of partners must be taken into account to better understand the causes of prostate cancer.

Professor Marie-Elise Parent

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