Circumcision Can Cut The Risk of Prostate Cancer
Have you heard the latest? Circumcision can cut the risk of prostate cancer -- but only if it's done after 35. Yeah. I winced, too.
According to a new study, research has shown that men circumcised after the age of 35 were 45% less at risk of later developing prostate cancer than uncircumcised men, newswise.com reports.
Researchers interviewed over 2,000 men living on the Island of Montreal. Half of them had been diagnosed with prostate cancer between 2005 and 2009, while the others participated in the study as the control group, the Web site explains. Questions covered their lifestyle and medical history, if they were circumcised, and if so, the age at which the operation had been performed.
Across the board, the participants who were circumcised were 11% less likely to later develop a prostate cancer. But scientists point out this is not statistically significant (sure would be to me!). "However, babies who were circumcised before the age of one were 14% less likely to develop prostate cancer. Moreover, the removal of the foreskin at a young age provides protection, over the long term, against the most aggressive forms of cancer," newswise notes.
Black men were among those who benefited the most. Among the 178 blacks who took part in the study – of whom 78% were of Haitian origin – the risk of prostate cancer was 1.4 times higher than among whites. Although only 30% of the black men in the study were circumcised, compared to 40% of the whites, the protective effect of the circumcision was limited to the blacks, whose risk of developing prostate cancer was decreased by 60%, with a very significant statistical effect.
Approximately 233,000 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2013. Almost 30,000 men died.
Circumcision also reduces the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. Researchers theorize that removing the foreskin could therefore reduce the risk of an infection that might be associated with prostate cancer.
According to a new study, research has shown that men circumcised after the age of 35 were 45% less at risk of later developing prostate cancer than uncircumcised men, newswise.com reports.
Researchers interviewed over 2,000 men living on the Island of Montreal. Half of them had been diagnosed with prostate cancer between 2005 and 2009, while the others participated in the study as the control group, the Web site explains. Questions covered their lifestyle and medical history, if they were circumcised, and if so, the age at which the operation had been performed.
Across the board, the participants who were circumcised were 11% less likely to later develop a prostate cancer. But scientists point out this is not statistically significant (sure would be to me!). "However, babies who were circumcised before the age of one were 14% less likely to develop prostate cancer. Moreover, the removal of the foreskin at a young age provides protection, over the long term, against the most aggressive forms of cancer," newswise notes.
Black men were among those who benefited the most. Among the 178 blacks who took part in the study – of whom 78% were of Haitian origin – the risk of prostate cancer was 1.4 times higher than among whites. Although only 30% of the black men in the study were circumcised, compared to 40% of the whites, the protective effect of the circumcision was limited to the blacks, whose risk of developing prostate cancer was decreased by 60%, with a very significant statistical effect.
Approximately 233,000 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2013. Almost 30,000 men died.
Circumcision also reduces the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. Researchers theorize that removing the foreskin could therefore reduce the risk of an infection that might be associated with prostate cancer.
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