I'm preventing prostate cancer

Sometimes in medicine, a paper comes out that invites so much humor that it seems a shame to forget it. I was reminded of one such article while reading Vitum's last post.

JAMA in 2004 ran an article about the effect of ejaculation frequency on the risk of prostate cancer. They found that those who reported higher frequency of ejaculation per month were less likely to have prostate cancer. This was a prospective analysis using questionnaires, and had a number of significant questions regarding validity. However, it reinforced a study done by the British Journal of Urology International, where 5 or more ejaculations weekly had a negative association with risk of developing prostate cancer.

My friends and I couldn't get enough of this medical breakthrough. Whenever we wanted to make a masturbation joke, it was couched in terms of prostate cancer risk. "I'm going to decrease my risk for prostate cancer." "I have 3 more to go this week, if I want to keep my cancer risk low." "What have you done to prevent prostate cancer today?"

However, one of my friends made a great comment when he read the article: "Five times a week: prevents prostate cancer. Six times? DEATH!"

Giles GG et al. Sexual factors and prostate cancer. BJU Int. 2003; 92(3): 211-6
Leitzmann MF et al. Ejaculation frequency and subsequent risk of prostate cancer. JAMA. 2004; 291(13): 1578-86.

Lush

So, I keep hearing from various sources that a small amount of daily alcohol (whatever the source may be) is actually good for cardiovascular health. Although we don't recommend people drink, if you're going to drink, one or two a day may help. The problem is that one or two turns into eight.

In any case, I'm drinking one or two a day now, and rediscovering my love of beer. And wine. And scotch. And gin. And cognac. And martinis. And... hmm... I'm thinking that maybe I'm in trouble.

AHA Nutrition Committee et al. Diet and Lifestyle Recommendations Revision 2006: A Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association Nutrition Committee. Circulation. 2006; 114(1):82-96.