by RJ Elsing
We realize that not all of you want to spend hours surfing pub med or wading through the stacks of your local university, fighting pencil-necked geeks for the first glimpse of the discoveries from a new scientific study, or even an interesting old one that you could use.
You'd rather be in the gym or chasing down that hot personal trainer, or maybe helping old ladies cross the street. So, we hired a guy to go out and find those interesting studies related to training, health, nutrition, and doing the nasty and report back.
It's kind of like a mother bird bringing food back to her baby. Except this is one bad mother who is bigger, stronger, and more aggressive than all the other birds and tends to leave a lot of annoying bird geeks stuffed upside down in trash cans with their spindly little legs poking out. So here's the latest information, raw and uncooked.
Grapefruit juice has been found to inhibit the intestinal system responsible for the first pass metabolism of many drugs, altering pharmacokinetics and resulting in elevated serum concentrations of said drugs. The smell of grapefruit causes women to appear six years younger to the men smelling it.(1)
Based on evidence from several well-designed studies, cranberry juice may decrease the number of symptomatic urinary tract infections (UTI), particularly in women with recurrent UTIs.(2)
While dolphin-assisted therapy has become very popular, there is no evidence that the ultrasound emitted by dolphins is of sufficient duration and intensity required for common ultrasound therapies.(3)
Bad, Flipper, bad.
Students who vacationed with friends on spring break dramatically increased their alcohol use compared to those who stayed home or vacationed with parents.(4)
Honey contains bioavailable antioxidants, which help protect the body from free radicals (contributors to aging and disease). The average human consumes 150 pounds of sweeteners each year, so substitute honey for traditional sweeteners.(5)
Substituting the superglue you have at home for the tissue adhesive used in hospitals is a bad idea.(6)
If you're bothered by prominent, Dumbo-like ears, repeatedly gluing them to your head is also a bad idea. Go for otoplasty instead, or consider taking that augmentation a little lower if you're a woman, to draw attention away from your ears.(7)
No one notices her large... ears... anymore.
During times of social ease and economic bounty, men prefer women with big breasts and tiny waists. During difficult social and economic times, men prefer women with big breasts and tiny waists. Actually, that's just me. During difficult social and economic times, the older, heavier, taller women with larger waist to hip ratios win out for most men.(8)
After the Big Crash in '29, Dave quickly found a new sugar momma.
While research with adults indicates a preference for average-weight female figures with waist to hip ratios of 0.7, children prefer underweight figures, though that preference changes as they grow older. Teens prefer average-weight figures.(9)
Women are more dissatisfied with their size than men, and choose thinner female figures as attractive and acceptable.(10)
Research examining changes in idealized female body images in the media (Playmates of the Year, Miss America pageant winners, and fashion models) compared to young women in general across eight decades found that body measurements changed significantly over time. While BMI in the idealized groups declined significantly, actualyoung women packed on ever-increasing amounts of body mass.(11)
A study of 115 male models in Playgirl centerfolds from 1973-1997 showed the cultural ideal of the male body became more muscular over this time period.(12)
Western adolescent males are not alone in their pursuit of muscularity. Adolescent boys on the Pacific islands of Fiji and Tonga share many of the same goals of becoming muscular.(13)
In a study of "personal advertisements," black and Hispanic men were found to be more frequent requestors of fat women than white and Asian men. In the United Sates, obesity is more common among black and Hispanic women, compared to white women.(14)
It's junk in the trunk.
Male toy action figures have grown much more muscular over time, to the point of exceeding the muscularity of even the most chemically insane human bodybuilders.(15)
Synthol not included.
A young, healthy woman would need to increase 24 inches in height, 5 inches in the chest, and trim her waist by 6 inches to attain the same body proportions as a Barbie doll. A male would have to increase 20 inches in height, 11 inches in the chest, and almost 8 inches around the neck to look like Ken.(16)
The larger muscle mass of men (compared to women) could be explained by sex-related differences in mRNA expression. This serves as a template for protein synthesis, and differences in its expression could lead to reduced IGF-1 activity while also increasing myostatin activity.(17)
Compared to male gym-users, non-exercising couch-potatoes felt really bad about their body images after exposure to a muscular male ideal.(18)
Don't cry into your Pringles tub. Get to the gym, pronto.
Researchers found an association between women who desired to be thin and the amount of bodyfat carried on their frame. However, researchers could not find an association between men wanting to look jacked and actually being jacked. Researchers also didn't check for any correlation between wanting to be jacked and imaginary lat syndrome (ILS).(19)
Those aren't lats... they're ribs.
British researchers were surprised to find Body Mass Index (BMI) is a bigger factor than waist to hip ratio (WHR) when it comes to predicting attractiveness in women. In fact, they were so surprised, they went back and deliberately chose subsets where the BMI and WHR were inversely correlated; heavier women got more curvaceous instead of chunky. BMI still won out.(20)
WHR or BMI — take your pick!
Call men superficial for evaluating women based on body mass, but women aren't off the hook. Women can, and do, evaluate men's attractiveness solely by hearing their voice. They're even been able to estimate a man's weight, but not height.(21)
Vocal qualities of a man can indeed signal his hormonal quality.(22)
"But enough talk about me. What do you think about me?"
Turnabout is fair play, and men can accurately predict the visual attractiveness of a woman based on her vocal attractiveness, which holds clues to age, body size, and possibly hormonal profile. If she sounds hot, she probably is.(23)
While not common, women who use SSRI anti-depressants can develop persistent genital arousal disorder (PGAD), a condition in which they are "afflicted" by, you guessed it — persistently aroused genitals. Orgasm only offers brief relief to these poor souls.(24)
Maybe it's time to change your thinking, Ms. PGAD. What's wrong with a steady diet of orgasms?
1. Nutr J. 2007 Oct 30;6:33, Amer Psych Assoc 2005 Annual Meeting, Atlanta.
2. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2007 Jun;51(6):738-45
3. J Theor Biol. 2003 Nov 7;225(1):99-105
4. J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2007 Sep;68(5):681-8
5. J Agric Food Chem. 2003 Mar 12;51(6):1732-5
6. Emerg Med J. 2007 Mar;24(3):228-9
7. Ear Nose Throat J. 2003 Sep;82 (9):702-3
8. Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2004 Sep;30(9):1186-97
9. J Sex Res. 2004 Feb;41(1):5-15
10. Obes. Res. 2002 Mar;10(3):158-66
11. Women Health 2005;41(2):13-30
12. Int J Eat Disord. 2001 Jan;29(1):90-3
13. Body Image. 2007 Dec;4(4):361-71. Epub 2007 Sep 20
14. Obes. Res. 1993 Nov;1(6):425-32.
15. Int J Eat Disord. 1999 Jul;26(1):65-72
16. Int J Eat Disord. 1995 Nov;18(3):295-8
17. PloS ONE. 2008 Jan 2;3(1):e1385
18. Body Image. 2007 Sep;4(3):278-87. Epub 2007 Jun 26.
19. Body Image. 2006 Jun;3(2):145-52. Epub 2006 Mar 23
20. Proc Biol Sci. 2002 Nov 7;269(1506):2205-13
21. Proc Biol Sci. 2006 Jan 7;273(1582):83-9
22. Physiol Behav. 2007 Nov 29 [Epub ahead of print]
23. Animal Behaviour, Volume 65, Issue 5, May 2003, Pages 997-1004
24. J Sex Marital Ther. 2008 Mar-Apr;34(2):150-9
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