The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Vegetarians live longer and prosper, says study Posted: 04 Jun 2013 08:31 AM PDT
After following more than 70,000 men and women over six years, researchers at Loma Linda University in California - a Seventh-Day Adventist health institution - concluded that those who followed vegetarian lifestyles had reduced rates of mortality. As part of their religion, Seventh-Day Adventists are encouraged to follow vegetarian diets. Findings were published online by JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) Internal Medicine this week with an accompanying commentary of the study. After categorizing study participants into five dietary groups - non-vegetarians, semi-vegetarians, pescatarians, lacto-ovo-vegetarians, and vegans - authors found that vegetarian groups - the lacto-ovo-vegetarians and the vegans - tended to be older, more highly educated, and more likely to be married, drink less alcohol, smoke less, exercise more and be thinner. Mortality rates were also lower among those who followed meat-free diets -12 per cent lower than their carnivorous counterparts. This was particularly noteworthy among male participants, who showed a significant reduction in cardiovascular and ischemic heart disease-related deaths, researchers point out. The overall mortality rate was six deaths per 1,000 person years, or 2,570 deaths over a follow-up time of about six years. It's the latest study to tout the benefits of a meat-free diet. Earlier this year, researchers from the University of Oxford found that the risk of hospitalisation or death from heart disease is 32 per cent lower in vegetarians than their counterparts. — AFP-Relaxnews |
| One-third of US marriages start online, according to study Posted: 04 Jun 2013 04:06 AM PDT
Online dating has ballooned into a billion-dollar industry and the Internet "may be altering the dynamics and outcome of marriage itself," said the study by US researchers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research is based on a nationally representative survey of 19,131 people who married between 2005 and 2012. "We found evidence for a dramatic shift since the advent of the Internet in how people are meeting their spouse," said the study, led by John Cacioppo of the University of Chicago's Department of Psychology. However, some experts took issue with the findings because the survey was commissioned by eHarmony.com, the dating site that attracted one quarter of all online marriages according to the research. Cacioppo acknowledged being a "paid scientific advisor" for the website, but said the researchers followed procedures provided by the Journal of the American Medical Association and agreed to oversight by independent statisticians. People who reported meeting their spouse online tended to be age 30-49 and of higher income brackets than those who met their spouses offline, the survey found. Of those who did not meet online, nearly 22 per cent met through work, 19 per cent through friends, nine per cent at a bar or club and four per cent at church, the study said. So who is happier? When researchers looked at how many couples had divorced by the end of the survey period, they found that 5.96 per cent of online married couples had broken up, compared to 7.67 per cent of offline married couples. The difference remained statistically significant even after controlling for variables like year of marriage, sex, age, education, ethnicity, household income, religion and employment status. Among couples who were still married during the survey, those who met online reported higher marital satisfaction - an average score of 5.64 on a satisfaction survey - than those who met offline and averaged 5.48. The lowest satisfaction rates were reported by people who met through family, work, bars/clubs or blind dates. "These data suggest that the Internet may be altering the dynamics and outcomes of marriage itself," said Cacioppo. "It is possible that individuals who met their spouse online may be different in personality, motivation to form a long-term marital relationship, or some other factor." But not all experts believe that online dating translates into instant bliss. Eli Finkel, a professor of social psychology at Northwestern University, led an extensive review of the science published about online dating last year. He told AFP he agreed with the proportions found in the PNAS study. His research showed about 35 per cent of relationships now start online. "The overreach occurs when the authors conclude that meeting a partner online is better than meeting a partner through offline avenues," Finkel said. "Nobody's surprised when a minuscule effect reaches statistical significance with a sample of 20,000 people, but it's important that we don't misunderstand 'statistical significance' to mean 'practical significance.'" Finkel also took issue with eHarmony's involvement in the study. "I'm always a bit wary when a project is entirely funded by a private organisation that clearly has a vested interest in the results," he said. According to New York City psychologist and author Vivian Diller, the seven-year study was too short to assess the long-term outcomes of relationships that begin online. "Success in marriage is largely about how you negotiate differences, not just compatibility," she told AFP, adding that online dating can raise expectations and result in greater unhappiness. "I find that younger people who use online dating seem to use it more as a playground, especially guys looking at profiles of young women. They look at it as an opportunity to meet as many people as possible, and women fatigue of that." — AFP-Relaxnews |
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