Fun Medical Headlines
Is ice cream actually good for you? Will grabbing your partners butt make you healthier? Can beer make you live longer!? Let’s peruse these clickbait headlines to see what the science truly says.
I got some Ice Cream, and you ain’t got none
The first thing I found when doing my research was this fantastic graph. This is called a spurious correlation where two unrelated things when mapped together look like they may be causative. Correlation does not equal causation. Ice cream and sharks exposure are more common in the summer, yet unrelated.
The real meat of this “Is ice cream healthy” headline lies in an analysis of cohort studies following peoples diets long term. While checking the ice cream statistics the results were counterintuitive; people who at 1/2 a cup of ice cream semi-regularly were less likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Theories abound with regards to how this may or may not be true. Some credit the healthy fat and nutrients present in ice cream, others theorize that there may be a socioeconomic relationship/healthy user bias that leads to healhtier people having more access to ice cream. Tough to say from just the data, everyone is still waiting on a double blind placebo controlled trial. Sign me up! (More info here) Ice cream is also seen to be helpful in patients with dementia for reasons that become fairly obvious. People with dementia often forget to eat and Ice cream is a quick bolus of calories which can be beneficial. Ice cream is also a powerful trigger for nostalgia which is great for initiating memories and positive feelings.
Butt touchin benefits
This one feels like a major dose of clickbait. Finding that headline online was super easy, influencers are all over it. I found hundreds of accounts sharing this “fact” that it seems was originally shared by a twitter account called @nextscience. According to their post:
“Physical touch stimulates the release of oxytocin, often called the “love hormone,” which helps reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and promote feelings of closeness and happiness. These hormonal benefits positively impact both mental and physical wellbeing.”
The study that was done may not be new. This was the best article I could find that did a thorough oxytocin analysis, and honestly there’s a lot of good data there. However, none of it seems that new. It seems hugging, quality time, and positive group interactions are just as beneficial as a butt touch. They also don’t look as good on a headline, so sure touchin butts is healthy.
Beer for Longevity
This one pops up every year around national beer day. I want it to be true. It’s kind of true. Moderate drinkers seem to live longer than non drinkers and heavy drinkers.
Moderate is the key word here. Above is the “J shaped curve”. The sweet spot is the bottom of the J which is associated with less risk of death and disease. That is where moderate drinking lies, around 2 drinks a day give or take. As you can see risk goes up a bit at zero drinks, and risk goes up quite a bit for heavy drinkers. However, AGAIN, correlation does not equal causation. We are once again confronted with the healthy user bias, the idea that people with healthy lifestyles including exercise and community may be the same type of people who only drink moderately.
