Sheltieforce

Posts: 458

August 2012 Posted To: NHS Choices - Behind the Headlines
Conversation: 'Oral sex helps women fight depression' claim
Subject: 'Oral sex helps women fight depression' claim


“Oral sex is good for women’s health and helps fight depression”, was the Daily Mail’s lurid headline today, while The Sun opted for a more straightforward “Semen is good for you”.

Conclusion
It is difficult to know what to make of the study that the stories are loosely based on: why it was undertaken and what usefulness it could have in the real world. And apart from pure titillation and appealing to fans of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, it is difficult to see how these stories could be construed as news. Even though they questioned whether the women were in a relationship or not, it is still difficult to assess from this the stability or security of the relationship, which could be associated with reduced depression symptoms and increased likelihood of using alternative, or longer term, methods of contraception.
It is also worth noting that the study has also not assessed diagnoses of depression, only depression scores.
Overall, the researchers have not shown in this study that semen contains compounds with antidepressant qualities. They consider that both the oestrogen and prostaglandins found in semen may have this effect, but this is only speculation. Whether self-reported condom use is an accurate indicator of semen in the reproductive tract or the bloodstream is also open to doubt, because some couples may have practised “withdrawal”. As the authors point out, to investigate whether semen had any effect on mood would require a study which directly measured semen in the reproductive tract or ideally, in the bloodstream, and correlated this with women’s moods. Whether this would be a useful exercise is questionable, to say the least.


Posted this to the girls in the office :-D

Am I a predator ?