The National Health Service in Britain has released a leaflet for students that outlines the health benefits and pleasure of masturbation and sex and urges them to take part on a regular basis.
"An orgasm a day keeps the doctor away" is the message of the leaflets that are titled "Pleasure."
The authors of the leaflet say that too much emphasis has been placed on developing good relationships and having "safe sex." People normally have sex for pleasure, they say, which is why a change of emphasis is needed.
The authors also say that teenagers have an equal "right" to sex as adults.
It also says that sex is good for cardiovascular health and should be just as important as vegetables in a healthy diet.
The leaflet says, "Health promotion experts advocate five portions of fruit and veg a day and 30 minutes physical activity three times a week. What about sex or masturbation twice a week?"
According to the Daily Mail, the report "came to light just a week after it emerged that teenagers who took part in a £6million Government initiative to reduce teenage pregnancies were more than twice as likely to fall pregnant as other girls."
Some "family groups" are concerned that the leaflets will encourage unprotected sex and increase the spread of sexually-transmitted infections.
Anthony Seldon, master of Wellington College, called the leaflets "deplorable."
"If the NHS wants to promote a healthy heart," says Seldon, "as it says it does in this leaflet, it should put the money into reducing smoking and alcohol... Underage sex is as dangerous as underage drink and usually leads to sexual ill-health."
Nearly 40,000 teenagers become pregnant in England every year, the highest number for any western European countries.
The National Health Service is the publicly funded health service system in England. It was established under the National Health Service Act in 1946.
