Advances in Women's Health

Also largely left out of the headlines in 2010 were many advances in women's health. Here are just a few of the findings that could have huge impacts in women's lives.

•    Estrogen replacement therapy in women after menopause has long been associated with increased rates of breast cancer. Researchers have observed that breast cancer diagnosed at the harder-to-treat stages II and III is much more common in women who have taken estrogen replacement.

•    Removing just an addition 2 mm (1/10 of an inch) around the margins of a breast cancer tumor, however, helps reduce residual cancer in 98 per cent of women who have breast cancer surgery, doctors at Good Hope Hospital in the UK report.

•    A research team led by Professor Graham Packham of the University of Southampton  in the UK found that watercress contains a chemical called phenylethyl isothiocyanate that "turns off" a protein that allows breast cancer cells to survive under low-oxygen conditions. The equivalent of a small bowl of watercress , about 80 grams, once or twice a week, is likely to provide an optimum dose of the plant chemical.

•    The ticking biological clock , University of Texas researchers report, increases women's sex drive after 40. Women in their last reproductive years tend to desire a variety of sexual experiences.

•    Exercise researchers have finally realized that women have a lower peak heart rate than men. The old formula of 220 minus age in years is a good estimate of a maximum heart in men, but it is too high for women. A new formula is being developed for women's exercise machines and stress tests.

•    Researchers in Iran have developed a test that accurately predicts when a woman will hit menopause (usually to within 3 or 4 months of the actual date). Blood is drawn and analyzed for anti-Muellerian hormone (AMH), which measures activity in the ovaries.

To keep up with medical developments in 2011, be sure to make regular visits to Steady Health, where exciting medical breakthroughs are reported every day.