Why oral sex causes throat cancer when you are older as Michael Douglas recounts experience

We're often told to avoid certain things because of the health risks but it turns out that too much oral sex could be potentially disastrous when we are older.

While there are more obvious things to steer clear of such as smoking and vaping, or a certain takeaways, it turns out that performing oral sex on women is also a potential cause of cancer that we should be aware of.

As one dad from the UK recently found out, having a few too many partners and being a little too keen with his cunnilingus in his 20s led to a devastating human papillomavirus (HPV) diagnosis in his 60s.

What is human papillomavirus?

HPV is a remarkably common virus which can affect the mouth, throat or genital area, and often doesn't lead to any symptoms at all.

One person to be impacted by this was dad-of-two Frank Lane, who revealed his cancer was linked to catching HPV 40 years ago (Getty Stock Images)

While many people will contact HPV at some point in their lives, most won't suffer any consequences but some can develop high-risk cancers such as throat cancer, in the rare circumstance that the virus leads to abnormal changes in the cells.

How oral sex can lead to throat cancer

While cases might be rare, oral sex is considered one of the main risk factors for oropharyngeal cancer, according to Dr Hisham Mehanna.

He said: "Those with six or more lifetime oral-sex partners are 8.5 times more likely to develop oropharyngeal cancer than those who do not practice oral sex.

"80 per cent of adults reported practicing oral sex at some point in their lives," but "only a small number of those people develop oropharyngeal cancer.

"The prevailing theory is that most of us catch HPV infections and are able to clear them completely," the health expert added.

"However, a small number of people are not able to get rid of the infection, maybe due to a defect in a particular aspect of their immune system.

"In those patients, the virus is able to replicate continuously, and over time, integrates at random positions into the host’s DNA, some of which can cause the host cells to become cancerous."

Michael Douglas' experience with the disease

Michael Douglas, an actor best known for his roles in Basic Instinct and Ant-Man, opened up about his throat cancer diagnosis in 2010, and suggested that his health struggles were also derived from being over-zealous with oral sex.

The popular actor was able to beat the cancer and is still going strong at the age of 80 (Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images)

While he struggled with alcohol and smoking, both of which are common causes of cancer, he confirmed that HPV was what led to his particular cancer - something he was able to beat thanks to chemotherapy.

Douglas said: "Without wanting to get too specific, this particular cancer is caused by HPV [human papillomavirus], which actually comes about from cunnilingus.

"It's a sexually transmitted disease that causes cancer. There was a walnut-size tumour at the base of my tongue that no other doctor had seen."