Bisexuality not a transitional phase
Researchers have finally debunked the stereotype that bisexual women are uninterested in or unable to commit to long-term monogamous relationships.

The researchers in the US have carried out a study and found bisexuality in women is a distinctive sexual orientation and not a transitional stage which some females adopt on their way to lesbianism.

According to the study’s lead author Lisa M Diamond of the University of Utah, “This research provides the first empirical examination of competing assumptions about the nature of bisexuality, both as a sexual identity label and as a pattern of nonexclusive sexual attraction and behaviour.”

“The findings demonstrate considerable fluidity in bisexual, unlabelled and lesbian women’s attractions, behaviours and identities and contribute to researchers’ understanding of the complexity of sexual-minority development over the life span.”

The researchers came to the conclusion after analysing nearly 80 non-heterosexual women over a period of 10 years.

Cancer linked to race
Black women seem to develop breast cancer two decades earlier than their white contemporaries in the UK, the first British study looking at the differences suggested.

Researchers found that black patients had breast cancer diagnosed at an average age of 46 while white women had a diagnosis at 67.

The study involved 102 black British women and 191 white women who had breast cancer diagnosed at Homerton University Hospital in Hackney between 1994 and 2005. Researchers, also found that survival rate was poorer among black women with smaller tumours.

Heart, exercise and booze
Moderate drinkers are at 30 per cent lower risk of heart disease than teetotallers, according to a study of nearly 12,000 people. And those who combine a mild tipple with regular exercise are even less likely to die of the disease. Their risk is between 44 per cent and 50 per cent lower than couch potatoes who abstain from alcohol.
The team behind the 20-year study said that previous research has shown that moderate drinking and exercise both lower the risk of heart disease. But this is the first time scientists have quantified the benefits of both together.

The team used data from 11,914 people in Copenhagen. Participants were recruited between 1976 and 1978 and were asked questions about alcohol intake, physical activity and other factors that might influence the results, such as whether they smoked, their education and marital status.

Oatmeal-cholesterol link
The link between oatmeal and cholesterol reduction is stronger than previously thought, according to a new scientific review.

James W Anderson, professor of medicine and clinical nutrition at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, said that their study presents a contemporary analysis to find out if newer studies are consistent with the original conclusion reached by the FDA, which initially approved oatmeal’s health claim’s appearance on food labels in 1997.

Anderson and his colleagues analysed studies conducted during the past 15 years on oatmeal and cholesterol and found without exception total cholesterol levels were lower after oat consumption.

Hardcore smokers
A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh has found that seeking out treatment might be a marker for smokers who are more nicotine dependent.

The study found that this might also be the reason behind the view that cessation treatments don’t seem to work.

The new study is based on data from a government survey of more than 29,000 American smokers.

According to lead author Saul Shiffman, comparing the quitting success of smokers who try treatment to the quitting success of smokers who go it alone is like comparing “apples to hippopotamuses”.