Friday, August 22, 2008

Health Research Tidbits

So check out the new widget (scroll down, right) from the Women's Media Center! Shiny, no?

Among today's tidbits from the widget, health research with a twist of gender:

Men, Women and Speed. 2 Words: Got Testosterone?
8/21/08
NY Times: Researchers say there is no one physiological reason for the gender gap in sports, although there is a common biological thread. Testosterone gives men what he calls a bigger and better-fueled engine.

Positive Thinkers 'Avoid Cancer'
8/22/08
BBC: Women who have a positive outlook may decrease their chances of developing breast cancer, say Israeli researchers. The small study, published in the BioMed Central journal, also found that getting divorced, or being bereaved could increase the risk. But the researchers admitted that women were questioned after their diagnosis, which might significantly change their outlook on life.

Wait. Stop. Rewind. HUH??

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh I really hate the "positive thinking/attitude" take on disease. It is so unfair to all those people and families who did everything and were Pollyanna all the way and still lost the battle.

There is a lot to be said for religion and positive thought/actions but it will not keep a person from cancer.

I read Devra Davis's The History of the Secret War on Cancer recently and since I am even more convinced that for some of us, cancer is already simmering due to the pollution we grew up around and ingested.

No amount of prayer or positive thinking will undue the damage we have done to ourselves and our world.

Sorry for soap-boxing. My husband's late wife had melanoma and fought with all the positive and alternative methods at her disposal before her diagnosis, she was the more upbeat of the two even.

These studies use funds that could be put to better use, I think.