Topless tasks and other Topics An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of chores All right, ladies - don't shoot the messenger here. Remember, I'm just a conscientious, unbiased reporter of the news that impacts your health. And so, in the spirit of keeping you healthy and cancer-free, I want to say… Clean the kitchen, do the laundry, and fix some dinner! Of course, I'm kidding with the tone here. But that doesn't change the fact that according to some new German research, the rigor of housework and cooking is better at preventing breast cancer than work-related exertion OR leisure-time exercise. Now, if you've been a reader of mine for any length of time at all, you know I don't cotton to the mainstream's notion that strenuous exercise - in and of itself - does much of anything for your health, except harm it. Other than a walk for some daily fresh air, some moderate playing of sports or games, or the vigor of regular sex, I firmly believe the exertion of everyday life is exercise enough. But I digress… We're talking about what mainstream medicine thinks - and they think that heart-stressing, joint-murdering exercise is a panacea for good health. And this newest research shows they're wrong, at least when it comes to breast cancer prevention. The study, which is actually quite scientifically "rigorous," focused on a pool of 200,000 European women aged 20-80, controlling for such factors as age, education, location, date of first pregnancy and menstruation, substance use, oral contraception and hormone replacement therapy. Published in a recent edition of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention and conducted by staff of the German Institute of Human Nutrition, the research followed the subject women for 6.4 years, during which time 3,423 invasive breast cancers occurred within the group. The scientists' findings: That 16-17 weekly hours of housework alone reduces the risk of breast cancer among pre-menopausal women an average of 19% - and among post-menopausal women by a full 29%! Conversely, the research found NO significant link between work-related or leisure exercise and breast cancer risk. Which basically means that yet again, I'm right: The rigor of everyday life is sufficient exercise for optimum health. The article didn't say whether a similar study on housework was being conducted among men to see if it reduced their risk of prostate cancer. But in the meantime, girls, if you want your household chores to ALSO boost your man's health, perhaps you should consider doing them topless. One for the "too good to be true" file While researching an unrelated topic, I stumbled across an item on the Internet about some other German research - ostensibly published in a past issue of the New England Journal of Medicine - that claims staring at women's bare breasts is as healthy for men as any exercise regimen could be. The study's lead researcher claimed to have conducted a 5-year study on 200 male subjects, concluding that those who ogled for 10 minutes daily had lower blood pressure, slower heart rates, less heart disease, and around half the risk of heart attack and stroke as those who didn't get a daily eyeful… Boy, the news is coming up snake-eyes today, right guys? Well, leave it to me to be a stickler for the facts - even if they spoil a great story. As it turns out, THIS bit of German research is bogus. Numerous "urban legends" web sites refute the study, and the NEJM lists no such research in its archives… But hey, there's no research saying a daily eyeful of your one-and-only's assets HURTS your heart's health, either - and it would no doubt occasionally lead to some very beneficial types of calorie-burning activities for both of you… So better safe than sorry, I say! | 
