NoFap vs. prostate cancer: Are the potential benefits of ejaculation real? A summary.

Here on NoFap there are often discussions about, whether abstaining from orgasm for a period of time is increasing the risk of getting prostate cancer or not.

I was really interested in the topic, because I was quite worried for a long time myself. I wasn’t sure, if I shouldn’t just cum once in a while in order to decrease my risk. A lot of people on NoFap say, the theory, that abstaining from orgasm is increasing the risk of prostate cancer, is bullshit. Others say, a man, who doesn’t cum every day, will die of prostate cancer. I was confused by these very different theories. As a result, I wanted to learn about the (potential) benefits of frequent ejaculation regarding to prostate cancer.

I read scientific papers and articles about the topic and learned more. In this post want to share a summary.


How many people suffer/suffered from prostate cancer?

The first question I asked myself was “How many people actually get prostate cancer in their life?”. So I tried to find answers.

According to different statistics, there will be around 161.360 new cases of prostate cancer in America this year (2017).[1] In Germany, there are around 60.000 new cases every year on average.[2] In the UK, there were around 46.700 new cases in 2014.[3]

The overall risk of getting prostate cancer at some point in your life is at around 14%.[4] This number is quite high, making it the third most common type of cancer.[5]

But the good news is, that around 98% of all affected men, survive 5 years or longer![6]

Also: The average age of men, suffering from prostate cancer is 66. The risk for men under 40 is almost 0%![7]


What are risk factors of prostate cancer?

The second question I asked, was what are typical risk factors of prostate cancer? This are the most important risk factors according to experts, but there are a whole lot more:[8]

- Age

- Prostate cancer cases in your family

- Overall health condition


Can ejaculation help to decrease the risk to suffer from prostate cancer?

This is probably the most important question for us NoFappers. Are we increasing our risk by abstaining from orgasm or not?

In one study, “29 342 US men aged 46 to 81 years, provided information on history of ejaculation frequency on a self-administered questionnaire in 1992 and responded to follow-up questionnaires every 2 years to 2000. Ejaculation frequency was assessed by asking participants to report the average number of ejaculations they had per month during the ages of 20 to 29 years, 40 to 49 years, and during the past year (1991).”[9]

The study showed, that “most categories of ejaculation frequency were unrelated to risk of total prostate cancer.”[10]

However, a lower risk was observed in the highest category of ejaculation frequency. The study found, that the risk for men who reported 21 ejaculations per month, was decreased by 33% compared to men, who only reported 4 to 7 ejaculations per month.[11]

An update on the study in the year 2016 said, that the risk of getting prostate cancer was around 20-25% lower, for men, who had 21 ejaculations per month compared to men, who had 4-7 ejaculations per month.[12]

However, the risk of 0-3 ejaculations where also around 13% lower in the age range of 40-49 compared to men, who ejaculated 4-7 times per month in this age range. The risk for people in their 20s with 0-3 ejaculations per month was around 3% lower, than men in the same age range, who had 4-7 ejaculations on average. [13]

Another study done in Australia found similar results: “Those who reported an average of four to five or more ejaculations per week had two-thirds the risk compared with those who, on average, ejaculated less than three times per week.”[14]

So these studies suggest the assumption, that ejaculation can in fact reduce the risk of getting prostate cancer at some point in your life.

Another study done in 2008, however, found, that “[a]lone, frequent masturbation activity was a marker for increased risk in the 20s and 30s but appeared to be associated with a decreased risk in the 50s, while intercourse activity alone was not associated with the disease.”[15]


So, what do we take from this? My own personal thought while reading this was “Maybe just sex alone reduces the risk of getting prostate cancer for some reason”. Maybe masturbation isn’t as good as sex regarding to decreasing prostate cancer risk. This is also supported by the last study.

The first two studies combined sex, nocturnal emissions and masturbation in their results as “ejaculations”. The 2008 study did split them up. This could be an important fact, but it could also be useless. Further scientific investigation has to happen, before anyone can be sure.


Will we all die from prostate cancer now?

Probably not. Well, no one knows, if we are ever gonna die from prostate cancer in the future, but the chance is quite low. Here is why:

Although the percentage of men, suffering from prostate cancer, is quite high, the numbers of lethal cases is extremely low (as I already said in the beginning). So, we shouldn’t worry too much!

Also, the percentage of prostate cancer is (almost) non-existent for men under 40 and a lot of us on NoFap are younger. So, our risk is basically very slim either way.

Another aspect to keep in mind is, that most of us will probably not abstain from orgasm for the rest of our life’s. We will probably have a healthy sexual life after recovering from porn-induced problems. So, our NoOrgasm-phase is rather short compared to our life span. I doubt, that a few months of abstaining will increase the risk significantly.


Should I cum once in a while to have the benefits of ejaculation?

Nah, you shouldn’t. It simple: The positive effects of ejaculation were there at 21 ejaculations per month. That would be a lot of relapses. Way too many to heal from this addiction. If you cum just a few times per month, you won’t experience the benefits at all, so why throw away progress regarding to NoPMO? I think there is no reason.


TL;DR

The benefits of frequent ejaculation regarding to prostate cancer risk seem to be real. Frequent means 21 ejaculations per month.

However, a lower number of ejaculations didn’t show an increased risk of getting prostate cancer.

Also the risk of prostate cancer for men under 40 is almost 0% anyway. Also, it is not deadly in 98% of the cases.

So, don’t worry too much. Abstaining from orgasm for a couple of months, will probably not kill you in the long run.

Spoiler: Sources

[1] https://www.cancer.org/cancer/prostate-cancer/about/key-statistics.html; https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/prost.html; http://www.cancer.net/cancer-types/prostate-cancer/statistics

[2] http://www.krebsdaten.de/Krebs/DE/Content/Krebsarten/Prostatakrebs/prostatakrebs_node.html; https://www.prostata.de/wissen/prostatakarzinom/haeufigkeit-des-prostatakarzinoms; https://www.krebsgesellschaft.de/on...prostatakrebs/definition-und-haeufigkeit.html

[3] http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/hea...s-by-cancer-type/prostate-cancer#heading-Zero

[4] https://www.krebsgesellschaft.de/on...prostatakrebs/definition-und-haeufigkeit.html; https://www.cancer.org/cancer/prostate-cancer/about/key-statistics.html; http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/hea...s-by-cancer-type/prostate-cancer#heading-Zero

[5] https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/prost.html

[6] http://www.cancer.net/cancer-types/prostate-cancer/statistics; https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/prost.html

[7] https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/prost.html

[8] Interdisziplinäre Leitlinie der Qualität S3 zur Früherkennung, Diagnose und Therapie der verschiedenen Stadien des Prostatakarzinoms, Langfassung. URL: http://leitlinienprogramm-onkologie.de/uploads/tx_sbdownloader/LL_Prostata_Langversion_3.1.pdf; http://www.cancer.net/cancer-types/prostate-cancer/risk-factors-and-prevention

[9] Leitzmann MF, Platz EA, Stampfer MJ, et al. Ejaculation Frequency and Subsequent Risk of Prostate Cancer. Journal of the American Medical Association

URL: http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/198487?=quot;,gt;

[10] Leitzmann MF, Platz EA, Stampfer MJ, et al. Ejaculation Frequency and Subsequent Risk of Prostate Cancer. Journal of the American Medical Association

URL: http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/198487?=quot;,gt;

[11] Leitzmann MF, Platz EA, Stampfer MJ, et al. Ejaculation Frequency and Subsequent Risk of Prostate Cancer. Journal of the American Medical Association

URL: http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/198487?=quot;,gt;

[11] Leitzmann MF, Platz EA, Stampfer MJ, et al. Ejaculation Frequency and Subsequent Risk of Prostate Cancer. Journal of the American Medical Association

URL: http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/198487?=quot;,gt;

[12] Rider JA, Wilson KM, Sinnott JA, Kelly RS, Mucci LA, Giovannucci EL Ejaculation Freuquency and Risk of Prostate Cancer: Updated Results with an Addictional Decade of Follow-Up

URL: http://www.europeanurology.com/arti...esults-with-an-additional-decade-of-follow-up

[13] Rider JA, Wilson KM, Sinnott JA, Kelly RS, Mucci LA, Giovannucci EL Ejaculation Freuquency and Risk of Prostate Cancer: Updated Results with an Addictional Decade of Follow-Up

URL: http://www.europeanurology.com/arti...esults-with-an-additional-decade-of-follow-up

[14] Giles GG, Severi G, English ER, et al. Sexual Factors and Prostate Cancer.

URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1464-410X.2003.04319.x/full

[15] Dimitropoulou P, Lophatananon A, Easton D, Pocock R, Dearnaley DP, Guy M, Edwards S, O’Brien L, Hall A, Wilkinson R Sexual activity and prostate cancer risk in men diagnosed at a younger age

URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1464-410X.2008.08030.x/full

 

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