A new US study suggests that men who ‘buff their bananas’ frequently are less likely to develop prostate cancer than their counterparts who don’t often ‘liquidate their assets.’

That’s right! Your favorite guilty pleasure may also be saving your life. A group of 32,000 men who were mostly caucasian were followed from 1992 to 2010, and between these years 4,000 of the participants were diagnosed with prostate cancer. They were all asked to fill out surveys about their sexual health and the frequency that they ‘scour the tower of power.’ The men were also asked to submit their medical records and lab tests.

The breakdown from Salon.com:

• 192 cases of prostate cancer occurred among men who ejaculated just three times a month
• 1,041 cases occurred among men who ejaculated 4 to 7 times a month
• 1,509 cases occurred among men who ejaculated 8 to 12 times a month
• 807 cases occurred among men who ejaculated 12 to 20 times a month
• 290 cases occurred among men who ejaculated at least 21 times a month

The leader of the study Jennifer Rider who did the study while attending the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston told the Associated Press:

While our findings should be confirmed in studies that evaluate the potential biological mechanisms underlying the observed associations, the results of our study suggest that ejaculation and safe sexual activity throughout adulthood could be a beneficial strategy for reducing the risk of prostate cancer.

She and her team found that the guys who ‘hone the cone’ at least 21 times per month in their 20s were 19% less likely to develop prostate cancer than those who ‘pull the bologna pony’ less than 7 times, and men in their 40s who often ‘pound the fence post’ were 22% less likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer.