Your Health

By Janice M. Horowitz

GOOD NEWS

SOME NERVE! Besides the immediate worry over whether they will be cured, men who undergo prostate-cancer surgery invariably fear they'll lose the ability to have spontaneous sex--which can happen if doctors need to cut nerves that send arousal signals to the penis. Now researchers report that they've salvaged sexual function in more than 100 men by rewiring the penis with a nerve taken from the ankle. The procedure is still experimental, however, and the grafts are not as good as the original.

B IS FOR BREAST For years researchers have suspected that alcohol--even one glass a day--could increase a woman's chance of developing breast cancer. Now there may be a way to protect yourself, other than giving up wine with dinner. A study of 35,000 postmenopausal women shows that 400 mcg of the B vitamin folate seems to neutralize the cancer-causing effects of drinking. Where do you find folate? Dried beans, green leafy vegetables and most multivitamin pills.

BAD NEWS

IMPLANT ALERT After years of controversy over whether silicone breast implants are linked to connective-tissue disorders--the latest consensus is that they aren't--scientists raise a new concern. A 13-year study suggests that women with implants may be three times as likely to die of lung cancer and twice as likely to die of brain cancer as other plastic-surgery patients. Researchers can't explain their findings, but they know that it doesn't make a difference whether the implants are made of silicone or saline.

BATTLE OF THE SEXES No surprise here, but adolescents who watch wrestling on TV are more likely to engage in risky and violent behavior, like using drugs, fighting and even packing a gun. A study of high school kids shows that while fewer teenage girls than boys watch wrestling, those who do are twice as likely as young male wrestling fans to hit, punch and otherwise pick a fight with their dates. Time to turn the channel.

--By Janice M. Horowitz

Sources: Good News--American Cancer Society meeting; Epidemiology (upcoming issue, 7/01). Bad News--Epidemiology and Annals of Epidemiology (4/01); Pediatric Academic Societies meeting