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I'd be super uncomfortable with anybody asserting that conclusion. What the quote in the original article says is that they have data that in a preliminary fas
by knowtheory 13y ago
I'd be super uncomfortable with anybody asserting that conclusion.
What the quote in the original article says is that they have data that in a preliminary fashion supports the hypothesis that being cold (and trying to keep warm) suppresses a mouse's ability to fight off tumor growth.
That is very different from saying cold/stress causes tumors.
- DougWebb 13y ago"causes" is the troubling word there. From what I've read, in most people and animals tumors are growing all of the time due to cell replication defects, but normally the immune system gets rid of them. Cancer, as a disease, isn't "your body is making tumors", it's "your immune system isn't keeping up with your tumors". From that point of view, anything which makes your immune system less effective "causes" cancer by making it harder for your immune system to kill tumor cells faster than they occur. Being cold all of the time, or being subjected to any type of chronic stress, certainly seems like it could do that.