Thursday, February 15, 2007
Good for You: Antibodies, Boobs, Bleeding
We've known for some time that kids do better when they're breastfed as infants - they grow up healthier, smarter, and more secure - but that hasn't convinced many women to stick with it, so maybe this news might. Data from a huge follow-up study (96,648 new mothers over 16 years) suggests that breastfeeding is also good for the mothers: those who breastfed at least two years had significant reductions in cardiac events than did non-breastfeeders. There are lots of possible explanations for this effect, and I'll be interested to see what pans out.
If you're worried about your cardiovascular health, whether you breastfed your kids or not, you might consider giving blood. A good size VA study found that giving blood twice a year may improve circulatory health in younger people by reducing the body's stored iron. So give blood! Unless you're gay and barred from doing so. Just another way they wanna try and kill us off!
The alleged reason for the ban on gays giving blood is, of course, HIV. For which every blood donation is thoroughly screened, and with which at this point heterosexuals are about as likely to be infected, but that's another rant. The good news about HIV is that NAIAD researchers have published a picture of an important antibody at work blocking that nasty virus, hinting at possible targets for future vaccines. Awesome!
If you're worried about your cardiovascular health, whether you breastfed your kids or not, you might consider giving blood. A good size VA study found that giving blood twice a year may improve circulatory health in younger people by reducing the body's stored iron. So give blood! Unless you're gay and barred from doing so. Just another way they wanna try and kill us off!
The alleged reason for the ban on gays giving blood is, of course, HIV. For which every blood donation is thoroughly screened, and with which at this point heterosexuals are about as likely to be infected, but that's another rant. The good news about HIV is that NAIAD researchers have published a picture of an important antibody at work blocking that nasty virus, hinting at possible targets for future vaccines. Awesome!
Labels: blood, breastfeeding, cardiovascular, health, HIV, vaccine
