Men who masturbate frequently significantly reduce their chances of developing prostate cancer, Australian researchers  have found.

The researchers from Cancer Council, Victoria, said they believed frequent ejaculation cleared potentially carcinogenic chemicals from the prostate.

Graham Giles, the council's head of cancer epidemiology, told a news agency their researchers interviewed more than 2,000 men aged 40 to 69.

Those who ejaculated more than five times a week, he said, were a third less likely to develop prostate cancer.

"It's great news for men and certainly we don't think ejaculation is going to cause any harm. You certainly won't go blind," he said.

Giles said frequent ejaculation prevented semen from building up in the ducts in the prostate gland, where it could potentially become carcinogenic.

The study found men who had masturbated frequently in their 20s were the least likely to develop prostate cancer.

Giles, however, said the preventative effect appeared to relate only to masturbation and did not seen to extend to men who had sex frequently.

Agencies