A study suggests that regular masturbation by males in their 20s may prevent prostate cancer later on in life. Australian scientists found that men in their 20s who ejaculated more than five times weekly were a third less likely to suffer from prostate cancer.

The study suggests ejaculation during masturbation is a better defense than during sex because men can contract infections from intercourse that can increase their vulnerability to prostate cancer. The team was led by Graham Giles of The Cancer Council of Victoria in Melbourne.

One thousand seventy-nine men suffering from prostate cancer were asked to give detailed accounts of their sexual habits, which were then compared to the sexual habits of men without cancer. The team found that the men between age 20 and 50 who masturbated were less likely to develop prostate cancer and that this was especially the case for men in their 20s.

“The more you flush the ducts out, the less there is to hang around and damage the cells that line them,” Giles said in New Scientist magazine.