A two-year-old Facebook (FB) post about the relation between infrequent sexual activity and the immune system has been going around on social media. This needs context.
“There is no scientifically available data that suggests sexual inactivity can harm the immune system,” according to a team of health experts convened by global technology nonprofit Meedan.
While there is some research that has looked into such an association, it added that “more studies are needed to confirm if sexual activity has any bearing on one’s immune system.”
The netizen’s post, published on Aug. 22, 2019, carried a caption in Filipino: “Now I know why I am always getting sick.” This was also echoed by several FB users in the comments section.
A cursory search of the headline and broadcaster Dennis Antenor Jr., whose name appears in the screenshot, revealed that the post used a 2018 news report by the radio station DZRH News.
The original report mentioned two researchers: a “modern monogamy consultant” named Dr. Cory B. Honickman and sexuality educator Yvonne Fulbright.
VERA Files Fact Check, however, found no studies related to the subject attributed to Honickman in reputable research repository sites.
Meanwhile, Fulbright was cited for saying that “sexually active people take fewer sick days” as early as 2014.
Junice Melgar, executive director of the nonprofit Likhaan Center for Women’s Health, also said the study being referred to in the post may be the 2004 research by the Department of Psychology in Wilkes University in Pennsylvania in the United States. It looked into “the effects of being in a romantic relationship, sexual frequency, and salivary immunoglobulin A (IgA).” Immunoglobulin is an antibody that helps prevent illness.
The initial results indicated that “people who had sex one to two times per week had more immunoglobulin in their saliva than people who had infrequent sex.”
But Melgar emphasized that the study had “small sampling” and it only connected frequent sex with increased IgA but “not the reverse conclusion cited by the headline.” Melgar is a community-based health practitioner and an advocate for sexual and reproductive health for over 25 years.
Meedan’s experts also added: “Antibody levels do not necessarily indicate how well the immune system is able to carry out its core functions. Moreover, the study has not been repeated since.”
A study on the interaction between sexual inactivity, menstrual cycle phases, and immune functions in healthy women, published in The Journal of Sex Research, also found “different patterns of change in immune function” across the menstrual cycle between sexually active and inactive women.
Another 2017 study that analyzed sexual activities of 17,744 individuals reported “similar happiness levels and no significant overall physical health difference” between the sexually active and inactive participants.
Nicole Galan, registered nurse in women’s health and fertility issues, wrote in a 2019 article published in the United Kingdom-based outlet for medical information and news Medical News Today that having sex “may give a boost to certain aspects of people’s well-being and physical health.”
But several studies on the subject are “now outdated, and not all potential benefits apply to everyone.”
The said post now has more than 238,000 shares, 54,000 comments, and 42,000 reactions on FB, based on social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
