• Biblical Families is not a dating website. It is a forum to discuss issues relating to marriage and the Bible, and to offer guidance and support, not to find a wife. Click here for more information.

More Family => Less Cancer(!)

I had expected this to be about breast cancer, for obvious reasons. But not at all...

The research team says that larger families especially see lower rates of bladder, brain, breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, ovarian, and stomach cancers, as well as melanoma. In fact, the data showed the effect was stronger when total household size was taken into account. That is, the number of inhabitants of a single home is linked to cancer risk, even if that number includes extended family.
Click to expand...

The affect is stronger in men even...

The effect was particularly notable in males more than females, which surprised the authors as previous research showed that a woman’s cancer risk drops with every pregnancy.
Click to expand...

But why?

As for why having more children can make families healthier, the researchers suggest that larger families may enjoy a stronger emotional bond and an even more loving, positive environment which helps to ward off diseases. Additionally, family members tend to push each other to take better care of themselves, and often keep a look out for one another when it comes to health.
Click to expand...

To be clear, "researchers suggest" means "here are our guesses, we haven't a clue, maybe you'd like to fund us to investigate one of these?"

And those reasons, "stronger emotional bond and an even more loving, positive environment " are female centric ones ones the women in the house would be getting greater benefit from. So that doesn't fit the results.

I have a different suggestion: feeding that many people in a house requires dietary changes. You're significantly less likely to have a fast food or prepared food diet and more likely to cook from scratch or even grow your own. That means you're more likely to be avoiding cancer causing preservatives and contaminates in food.

If this is true how does it explain the differential result men vs. women? A man out working has more opportunity to eat out and not follow the diet of the home. Big family = tight budget = that doesn't happen near as much.

colorectal cancer there is notable... colon cancer was for centuries an affliction of the well off who could eat poorly. Bladder and stomach also key in on diet. Melanoma, highly affected by diet (vitamin d). Brain...think no-vaxers and avoiding prescriptions and doctors due to high cost. Breast...big family. Ovarian (big families, no birth control). Cervical... big family = young marriage = not much sleeping around = low to no exposure to HPV. Also, "Semen also consists of a variety of proteins that have antimicrobial activity against bacteria, viruses and fungi." So chalk another one up to Natural Family Planning. Note also that most HPV's don't lead to cancer because the immune system fights them off. So immune function is important. And that will be affected by "loving, positive environment"

However, my explanations about ovarian/cervical hopefully don't account for "even if that number includes extended family". Until you realize that large or extended families are more likely to be traditional and so hold to older sexual norms in the family as a whole.

One could probably learn more by taking into account the cancers not affected by this. But I'm tapping out now.

p.s. tip for researchers....I bet rates of dementia are lower in people who lived in large households while young. But the affect will probably also be weaker due to the influence of the late in life drug cascade.
 
rockfox said:
And those reasons, "stronger emotional bond and an even more loving, positive environment " are female centric ones ones the women in the house would be getting greater benefit from. So that doesn't fit the results.
Click to expand...
Whereas I agree 100% with your succeeding paragraph, don’t be too quick to throw this out.
While they may be female centric, who is to say that a man operating in the environment that YHWH designed for him doesn’t partake of benefits not available to men with a more self centered lifestyle?
 
steve said:
Whereas I agree 100% with your succeeding paragraph, don’t be too quick to throw this out.
While they may be female centric, who is to say that a man operating in the environment that YHWH designed for him doesn’t partake of benefits not available to men with a more self centered lifestyle?
Click to expand...

Oh I agree that men benefit from it as well. But women are social creatures and more likely to be stay at home; so they'll reap MORE benefit from that change than man. But the study found that bigger families had a larger affect for men than women. So that doesn't fit.

Just look at it: could "stronger emotional bond and an even more loving, positive environment " be any more tailored to the desires of women? That description probably had less to do with any scientific based theories and more to do with appealing to the female editors and grant givers.
 
At any rate, the stats show that being in a larger family benefits men even more than it does women, and we have nothing but conjecture as to why.
 
There's also other science out there: Men and women alike benefit from stronger family relationships and stronger social networks outside the family. I thought that was pretty well established at this point.
 
While this doesn't surprise me there is SOME self selection here; healthy people are more likely to find a mate. Healthy people are more likely to have children. People with responsibilities and purpose are more likely to avoid risk behaviors or experience "deaths of despair." It's a virtuous cycle. The people who are more likely to live longer tend to be able to have families and families make you want to live longer.
 
ZecAustin said:
While this doesn't surprise me there is SOME self selection here; healthy people are more likely to find a mate. Healthy people are more likely to have children. People with responsibilities and purpose are more likely to avoid risk behaviors or experience "deaths of despair." It's a virtuous cycle. The people who are more likely to live longer tend to be able to have families and families make you want to live longer.
Click to expand...

This is a really good point. A LOT of people stop having kids due to health concerns.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top