Circumcision may cut risk of prostate cancer

Circumcision may help prevent prostate cancer, but only if the operation takes place before the person has sex for the first time.

Jonathan Wright at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and colleagues asked 3000 men ? around half of whom had prostate cancer ? if they had been circumcised and when they first had sex.

Circumcision appeared to reduce the risk of prostate cancer by 15 per cent overall, and 18 per cent for the most aggressive form. The benefits vanished if men had sex before circumcision.

The team theorise that inflammation around the prostate gland triggered by sexually transmitted infections promotes the development of cancer. Since circumcision removes the mucosal layers under the foreskin where pathogens can breed, it may hinder such development.

They point towards previous research showing that having many sexual partners, or a high frequency of sexual activity, increases the risk of prostate cancer by up to 40 per cent.

In 2003, it was found that frequent masturbation lowers the risk of prostate cancer, perhaps because it prevents the build-up of carcinogens in the gland.

Journal reference: Cancer, DOI: 10.1002/cncr.26653

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