Many older men take testosterone to boost their sex drive, but new research suggests that postmenopausal women who struggle with a sagging libido might want to follow suit.

Applied topically, the hormone appears to increase women’s sexual function and satisfaction, according to a new review of 36 clinical trials involving nearly 8 500 women.

A female hormone

Women naturally produce testosterone as well as oestrogen, said lead researcher Susan Davis, a professor of women’s health at the Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine in Melbourne, Australia.

“Testosterone is a female hormone and there is consistent evidence generated over decades that postmenopausal women with loss of sexual desire or arousal may benefit from treatment with testosterone,” Davis said.

The hormone appears to act directly upon sex hormone receptors in women’s brains, Davis explained.

“Testosterone has also been shown to increase blood flow, including vaginal blood flow, so treatment may enhance orgasm and arousal by increasing blood flow to genital tissues,” Davis added.

The idea of using testosterone to boost female sexuality has been around for decades, but has lain fallow since the mid-2000s, experts said.

In 2004, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shot down an effort by Procter & Gamble to sell a testosterone patch for women, said Dr Andrea Dunaif, chief of endocrinology, diabetes and bone disease for the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City.

‘Landscape’ has changed

At that time, critics argued that low sex drive among women was something concocted by pharmaceutical companies to sell a product, while proponents argued that women deserved a treatment since men have Viagra, Dunaif said.

“Unfortunately, it got very politicised,” Dunaif said.

But the landscape has since changed.

In 2015, the FDA approved the oral drug Addyi (flibanserin) to treat low sexual desire in women prior to menopause, Dunaif said. And last month, the agency approved Vyleesi (bremelanotide), an injectable drug, for the same purpose.

In this new environment, Davis and her colleagues returned to the potential of testosterone therapy for women, analysing a set of clinical trials stretching between 1990 and 2018. The work was funded by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council.

The pooled data showed that topical testosterone therapy, by gel or patch, could improve older women’s sex lives by about one additional satisfying sexual encounter each month.

That might not sound like a lot, but women’s health expert Dr Holly Thacker argued that it is a huge difference.

Significantly increased sexual desire

“It is a lot because if you’re having sex once a week for duty sex and you don’t enjoy it or want it, and then you go from having duty sex four times a month to maybe five or six times a month and really wanting it, that’s a big difference in the field of women’s health,” said Thacker, director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Specialized Women’s Health.

The analysis also showed that testosterone significantly increased sexual desire, pleasure, arousal, orgasm, responsiveness to sexual stimuli, and self-image.

According to Davis, “Testosterone improves multiple dimensions of sexual well-being in postmenopausal women who have low sexual well-being and are distressed by this, after exclusion of other major factors, such as major depression, primary relationship issues and so forth.”

Some doctors already have been treating select women with testosterone off-label, said Dr Elizabeth Kavaler, a urology specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

Kavaler hopes this new study will “legitimise” both testosterone therapy and the whole field of sexual medicine for women.

Testosterone therapy can come with side effects for women, including acne and hair growth, the researchers found.

Renewed interest

There are some concerns that testosterone could cause the sort of long-term health problems found in men, like increased risk of heart disease, Dunaif said. Also, women’s bodies convert testosterone into oestrogen, which might boost oestrogen levels and influence risk of breast cancer.

But Kavaler noted that testosterone used to treat women comes at a tenth of the dose needed for men.

“The risks are lower because we use so much less in women,” Kavaler said. “The doses are much, much higher in men.”

Thacker said she hopes the new analysis prompts renewed interest in testosterone therapy for women.

“I think it’s a shame we didn’t get the patch when we could have had it a decade ago,” Thacker said. “I would hope this work might stimulate someone to bring the patch to market for women.”

The new analysis was published online in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal.

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Genetics has a greater impact on the microbiome than maternal birth environment, at least in mice, according to a study published this week in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Vaginal birth, known to transfer microbiota to a newborn, failed to make a lasting microbial imprint on offspring.

Forever 21 is known for its trendy, affordable clothing. But this week, the brand is getting serious heat on social media.

Several Twitter users claim Forever 21 is allegedly sending out Atkins bars with online orders.

Dozens have posted photos of their orders to Twitter, which show Atkins lemon bars sitting atop packaged Forever 21 clothing items. Most of the posts come from people who say the bars were included in plus-size orders specifically. However, some claim they've received the food sample with Forever 21 clothes purchased outside of the brand's plus-size collection.

RELATED: What Nike’s Plus-Size Mannequin Means for All Women, Even Tanya Gold

One Twitter user said Forever 21's alleged actions send "a wildly dangerous message to ALL of its customers." She continued, "Not only is it fat shaming, it could also trigger people of all sizes who have EDs. This is as dangerous as it is inappropriate."

RELATED: Rihanna Specifically Designed Her Fenty Pieces to Help Curvy Women Feel Confident

"Yeah uh I will not be shopping at Forever 21," read another tweet. "This is ridiculous. You know some ad person thought this was a fantastic ~targeted campaign. Gross. Gross gross gross. (Also Atkins bars are disgusting so it's like INSULT TO INJURY)"

Another person called the alleged move "fatphobic, insensitive, and harmful to everyone involved." They wrote on Twitter, "Diet culture continues to thrive because of companies like [this] who 'subtly' shove it down people's throats. Please address this."

RELATED: Influencers Ashley Torres and Kristina Zias Modeled Aerie Swim to Prove Every Body Is a Bikini Body

FWIW, the lemon Atkins bar that some people claim to have received with their Forever 21 orders isn't marketed as a "diet" food. However, Atkins itself is known for the Atkins diet, a "very low carbohydrate eating plan" meant to help people lose weight, according to Mayo Clinic.

RELATED: The Zero Carb Diet May Be a Simple Way to Lose Weight—But Is It Safe?

Update: A rep for Forever21 responded with an official statement regarding the accusations: "From time to time, Forever 21 surprises our customers with free test products from third parties in their e-commerce orders. The freebie items in question were included in all online orders, across all sizes and categories, for a limited time and have since been removed. This was an oversight on our part and we sincerely apologize for any offense this may have caused to our customers, as this was not our intention in any way."

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This article originally appeared on Shape.com

Katrina Scott will be the first to tell you she has no interest in getting her pre-baby body back. In fact, she prefers her post-pregnancy body and feels that giving birth has changed her perspective on her own strength.

Still, plenty of people told Scott that she'd "snap back" into shape after having her baby, especially given her fitness level. But now, through a powerful transformation post, the Tone It Up co-founder is sharing how that wasn't the case.

"Officially nine months postpartum," she wrote on Instagram last week.

RELATED: This Total-Body Workout From the Tone It Up Girls Sculpts From Head to Toe

Typically, when fitness influencers share their postpartum transformation, their "before" photo shows them at nine months pregnant. But Scott's "before" photo was taken a couple of months after she gave birth. Take a look:

"Instead of posting a pic at nine months pregnant, I chose a pic at three months postpartum because three months is where everyone kept telling me I'd be 'back' to where I was," she wrote. "[But] that wasn't my journey." 

Even though Scott's experience didn't align with everyone else's expectations, she felt an immense appreciation for her body regardless. "On the left, I was not disappointed…nor was I sad that I didn't live up to the expectation a lot of people had on me," she wrote. "In fact, I was the opposite. I was happy, proud and body positive."

RELATED: Why Body-Shaming Kayla Itsines for Her Postpartum Abs Is a Huge Problem

The first-time mom shared how she could have easily felt the opposite if she'd put pressure on herself to conform to the unrealistic expectations that come with postpartum weight loss.

"Imagine if I was hard on myself, ate my emotions, hated the body that gave me a beautiful daughter, or if I tried to live up to what I thought everyone expected of me? I don't think I would be where I am today. It would have led to me feeling like I failed myself and everyone who followed me. It would have led to self-sabotage and maybe I'd be stuck bc I wouldn't think I deserved self-love," she explained.

RELATED: What Kayla Itsines, the Tone It Up Girls, and Other Fitness Stars Do When They’re Not at the Gym

Continuing her post, Scott said the most important aspect of any postpartum journey is "the way we speak to ourselves."

"I want u to know that ur postpartum body is remarkable," she wrote. "For me, I appreciate my tiger marks, my dimples that stayed on my booty cheeks, my tummy that expands more than ever when I eat and the new skin I'm in."

"Everyone's journey looks different & every mom has her own unique path ~ so let's not compare our chapter 1 or 3 to someone else's chapter 30," Scott added. "If you're feeling down or defeated, I want you to know it's ok. Start with this one thing—kindness. Everything you say to your body is important because it's listening."

RELATED: The Tone It Up Girls Swear By This Butt-Sculpting Workout

To end her post, Scott shared a simple way you can start going easy on yourself and practice self-love.

"Start with 'I am beautiful. I am capable. I am worthy of my goals & dreams. I am exactly where I need to be today. I can do this. I am loved. And I am so grateful for this body, my beating heart & my beautiful mind,'" she wrote. "Every decision you make, make it with self-love… because you deserve it."

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This article originally appeared on Shape.com

I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t told that I was fat. I have memories of being a little girl in dance class, wearing flashy costumes as people poked my belly and told me I was chubby. I didn’t think much of those comments when I was a young girl — there were more pressing issues like collecting Barbies and playing outside with my friends. But as I got older, hearing people call me fat became more and more frustrating.

I began feeling uncomfortable in those dance costumes. My friends started to look like the Barbies we played with while I remained a Cabbage Patch Kid. My grandfather, though I loved him dearly, would comment on my weight, as would my parents whenever I tried on clothes. By the end of middle school — after a boy I liked told me he’d rather date a trash can than someone who looked like me — I learned to hate that irritating adjective reserved for chubby girls: “cute.” It felt more like an insult than a compliment.

RELATED: Tess Holliday Reveals She's Been Called Out for Changing Her Body—Here's Why She Thinks That's Ridiculous

As time continued passing, I grew more and more self-conscious. I would look in the mirror, and see a girl who just wasn’t enough. I’d see this lump and that lump; I’d work out until I fell over, and I still wasn’t as skinny as my friends were. Never mind the fact that our bodies are all shaped completely differently and we all carry, gain, and lose weight differently — that wasn’t something I thought about. Instead, I obsessed over their ability to rock a bikini while I was too scared to even wear a pair of shorts.

And that’s why I want to say — as much as people preach about the movement on social media and in online feminist spaces — body positivity isn’t always as easy as it’s made out to be.

RELATED: 7 of the Most Dramatic Fitness Instagram 'Relaxed vs. Posed' Snaps

When you grow up hearing your family and friends question your weight, hearing your ballet teacher say you’re too big to go en pointe, hearing your elementary school nurse suggest that “maybe you shouldn’t eat so many sandwiches” — when society tells you that being chubby simply isn’t good enough — becoming body positive isn’t as automatic as “just loving yourself and who you are!”

Once breaking away from our ridiculous beauty standards became more mainstream thanks to the body positivity movement, I was thrilled — but skeptical. I feared that this mindset would be gone as quickly as it had come thundering in. But the more articles I read, the more I began feeling that these body positive messages were only reaching certain women.

RELATED: This Influencer Flaunted Her Cellulite in a Bikini to Shut Down Liposuction Rumors

Specifically, I felt like body positivity was for women who were already comfortable in their skin, who no longer cared what others said about their weight.

But what about women like me who haven’t yet reached that level of confidence? What about women like me who can’t even imagine reaching that higher plane of self-love?

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always thought of myself as a great, interesting person — it’s a skill that you hone after being overlooked by suitors and labeled the funny friend for years. But, oftentimes, feeling anything other than okay with myself just isn’t on my radar. Sometimes, I’m still the woman who considers skipping a friend’s wedding because of how terrible I think I’ll look in a dress.

RELATED: 15 Times Celebs Went Makeup-Free in Totally Candid Photos

I feel that acknowledgement of this self-esteem battle is sometimes missing from the body posi newsletters that flood my inbox. There are so many wonderful women who are breaking down stereotypes, but they don’t always say what I need to hear — things like this:

“It’s okay if you don’t feel good about your body right now. It’s okay if it takes some time. It’s not always easy to get to this place, but if you work at it and try to remember that *how you look* is dependent on *how you feel about yourself*, it can totally happen.”

So, in the meantime, I’ll say it instead.

RELATED: This Plus-Sized Model’s Bikini Pic Is Sparking Controversy on Twitter

I know that there are many of us who struggle with body positivity. We think, maybe if we just lose a few pounds, our crushes will finally notice us. We do tedious “math” to figure out how to lose x-amount of pounds before a certain event. We skip out on taking pictures. We spend hours in the mirror finding our perfect angles to hide our bellies or to make our arms look thinner. We avoid activities that require specific outfits and say, “Oh, no. I can’t try that on. I’ll look too fat in it.”

And it sucks. Of course it sucks. We want to be on the body positivity train. We want to send nudes without scrutinizing them. We want to get tagged in group photos without wondering, “Is it just me or is my double chin super extra in that?” We want to walk around in shorts and dresses and bathing suits and say, “This is me.”

RELATED: This Photo of Ashley Graham in a Bikini Eating Cheetos Is the Most Relatable Thing Ever

But it might take you just a little longer to get there. I haven’t reached that point yet, either.

Some days, I feel amazing. I think, “Okay, this is my body. It’s not perfect. It doesn’t look like any of the bodies on The CW, but it’s still mine. I can’t let it stop me from living my life. LET’S DO THIS.” Some days, I don’t want to be seen because I’m feeling extra chubby. I don’t even want to take my clothes off in front of my boyfriend.

It’s a process. It’s not always as easy as the Internet makes it seem — and that’s okay.

But we’ll get there, eventually. We’ll forget all of the times when someone made us believe that our worth hinged on our weight. We will embrace that all bodies are different, and all bodies are great because they exist and are full of life. We aren’t worse than anybody else because of the number on the scale. We will thrive, no matter what size our jeans are. One day, we will realize this.

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This article originally appeared on HelloGiggles.com

Knitted characters created for a village festival have a new role to help the elderly.

Up to 600 women with a hereditary, advanced form of the cancer could benefit each year in England.

In a groundbreaking new study published in the journal Nature, an international team of over 150 scientists from 26 countries combined movement data from nearly 2,000 sharks tracked with satellite tags.

New research from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering could be key to our understanding of how the aging process works. The findings potentially pave the way for better cancer treatments and revolutionary new drugs that could vastly improve human health in the twilight years.

Oxytocin is widely referred to as the love hormone and plays an important role in the regulation of social and maternal behavior. In recent years, the oxytocin system in the brain has received tremendous attention as key to new treatments for many mental health disorders, such as anxiety, autism spectrum disorders and postpartum depression. New research led by a biologist and his students at LSU have discovered a group of cells that are activated by oxytocin in one area of female mouse brains that are not present in the same area in male mouse brains.