Most women won’t be surprised by this finding: Less than one-third of women worldwide are satisfied with the size of their breasts.

But a new study suggests that what many women may not realise is their dissatisfaction could have implications for their health.

Serious public health concern

Surveys of more than 18 500 women in 40 countries, average age 34, found that 48% wanted larger breasts, 23% wanted smaller breasts, and only 29% were satisfied with the size of their breasts.

More troubling was the fact that women who were unhappy with their breast size said they were less likely to do breast self-examination and were less confident about detecting changes with their breasts – two important self-care practices for the early detection of breast cancer.

“Our findings are important because they indicate that the majority of women worldwide may be dissatisfied with the size of their breasts. This is a serious public health concern because it has significant implications for the physical and psychological well-being of women,” said lead researcher Viren Swami. He’s a professor of social psychology at Anglia Ruskin University, in Cambridge, England.

“Breast cancer is the leading cause of female cancer-related deaths worldwide and poor survival rates are associated with poorer breast awareness,” he noted in a university news release.

“Breast size dissatisfaction may result in avoidance behaviours that reduce breast awareness, particularly if a woman’s breasts trigger feelings of anxiety, shame or embarrassment,” Swami explained.

Poorer mental well = being

“Our study found a direct link between greater breast size dissatisfaction and poorer breast awareness, as seen through lower frequency of breast self-examination and lower confidence in detecting changes in the breasts, and this requires urgent public health intervention,” Swami said.

The research, published online in the journal Body Image, also found that breast size dissatisfaction is associated with poorer mental well-being – including lower levels of self-esteem and happiness – and that women unhappy with their breast size were more likely to be dissatisfied with their weight and overall appearance.

Women in Brazil, Japan, China, Egypt, and the United Kingdom were most likely to be unhappy with their breast size, according to the report. Women in India, Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon and the United Kingdom reported the largest ideal breast size, while women in Japan, the Philippines, Germany, Austria and Malaysia reported the smallest ideal breast size.

“We also found that despite historical differences across nations, breast size ideals are now similar across the 40 nations we surveyed. This suggests that the objectification of medium-to-large breasts is now a global phenomenon,” Swami said.

“Another key finding is that breast size dissatisfaction decreases with age. It is possible that older women experience less pressure to attain breast size ideals or that motherhood and breastfeeding encourages women to focus on the functional purposes of breasts rather than seeing them purely in aesthetic terms,” Swami concluded.

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For women, a humdrum sex life might also mean an earlier onset of menopause, a new study suggests.

British researchers who tracked the sex lives and menopausal status of nearly 3 000 American women for a decade found that those who had less sex were more likely to begin menopause at an earlier age.

Looking after grandchildren

Women’s bodies may react to a lessening of sexual activity on a “use it or lose it” basis, the research team theorised.

“The findings of our study suggest that if a woman is not having sex, and there is no chance of pregnancy, then the body ‘chooses’ not to invest in ovulation, as it would be pointless,” explained study first author Megan Arnot.

“There may be a biological energetic trade-off between investing energy into ovulation and investing elsewhere, such as keeping active by looking after grandchildren,” said Arnot. She’s a PhD candidate in anthropology at University College London.

One US expert said it highlights another possible “plus” to good sexual health for women.

“Doctors have long known that there were many benefits from continued sexual activity,” said Dr Jennifer Wu, an obstetrician/gynaecologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

She pointed out that a later menopause can mean stronger bones and better cholesterol levels.

Perimenopausal symptoms

Wu also pointed out that, according to the study, “sexual activity associated with later menopause also encompasses oral sex, fondling, and masturbation”, and she added that “even women without a partner can reap the benefits of later menopause”.

In the study, Arnot’s group analysed data from nearly 3 000 women who were first interviewed at age 45 in 1996–1997. None had yet entered menopause, but 46% were starting to have “perimenopausal” symptoms, such as changes in their period cycle and hot flashes (perimenopause). Fifty-four percent had no signs of perimenopause.

During more than 10 years of follow-up, 45% of the women began natural menopause, with the average age of onset being 52.

The study couldn’t prove cause-and-effect. However, compared to women who had sex less than at least once per month, those who had sex weekly were 28% less likely to begin menopause at any age, and those who had sex monthly were 19% less likely.

Whether or not a woman actually lived with a partner didn’t seem to influence the results, the researchers noted.

The study was published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

The findings dovetail with what anthropologists have dubbed the “Grandmother Hypothesis”.

Mainly of scientific interest

This theory suggests “that the menopause originally evolved in humans to reduce reproductive conflict between different generations of females, and allow women to increase their inclusive fitness through investing in their grandchildren”, Arnot explained in a university news release. So, a cessation of sexual activity might send a signal to begin that physiological transition, she said.

Dr Mitchell Kramer is chair of obstetrics and gynaecology at Northwell Health’s Huntington Hospital in Huntington, New York. Reading over the new findings, he noted that prior studies have found that married women tend to enter menopause later than single women. One theory to explain that trend is that married women might have more frequent sex.

“All women will eventually experience cessation of menses and go into menopause, but increasing frequency of sexual activity in some way affects the reproductive system to delay the menopausal changes,” Kramer said.

Still, Kramer believes that individual women shouldn’t place too much importance on the findings.

“The significance and importance of these findings are mainly of scientific interest – the importance of these findings from the health perspective is questionable,” he said.

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The first type of influenza virus you’re exposed to may set your lifetime ability to fight the flu.

Researchers with McMaster University and University of Montreal found that being born in an H1N1 year or an H3N2 year matters. Following a phenomenon known as antigenic imprinting, the study revealed that early exposure to one of these two flu strains permanently affects your immunity.

Knowing who is at a higher risk each year could help tailor pandemic and epidemic planning, the researchers say.

“People’s prior immunity to viruses like flu, or even coronavirus, can have a tremendous impact on their risk of becoming ill during subsequent epidemics and pandemics,” said study co-author Matthew Miller, an associate professor at McMaster Immunology Research Center.

Antigenic imprinting

“Understanding how their prior immunity either leaves them protected or susceptible is really important for helping us to identify the populations who are most at risk during seasonal epidemics and new outbreaks,” continued Miller.

Researchers analysed data from the 2018-2019 flu season. Unlike typical flu seasons where one flu strains dominates, both strains of influenza A dominated at different times.

“We already knew from our previous studies that susceptibility to specific influenza subtypes could be associated with year of birth,” said lead author Alain Gagnon, a professor of demography at University of Montreal.

“This new study goes much further in support of antigenic imprinting,” Gagnon added. “Instead of just showing how specific age patterns are associated with one subtype or the other during a single influenza season, we took advantage of a unique ‘natural experiment’ to show how the change in subtype dominance during one season appears to lead, practically in real time, to a change in susceptibility by age.”

In the United States, flu has led to between 140 000 and 810 000 hospitalisations and between 12 000 and 61 000 deaths annually since 2010, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates.

The study was published recently in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

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