Diet soda vs. regular; low testosterone: Healthy Living

Personal health news this week has something for everyone -- from guys worried about their testosterone levels to diet soda aficionados.

DIET SODA: After a new study suggested diet drinks might be just as bad for you as those loaded with sugar, folks who enjoy a pop now and then (or every day, like some bosses we know), questions bubbled up and cnn.com did a good job of finding answers.

FERTILITY: USA Today this week looks at the effect on fertility of marrying later in life and finds something counterintuitive in new federal data: Infertility has declined.

LOW TESTOSTERONE: You've seen the ads, right guys? They're all over TV and they're telling you a little lethargy or drop in libido might mean you've got the dreaded "low T."

The Los Angeles Times' Melissa Healy this week writes about a commentary published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In it, a couple of Dartmouth Medical School physicians call the ad campaign "a mass, uncontrolled experiment that invites men to expose themselves to the harms of treatment unlikely to fix problems that may be wholly unrelated to testosterone levels."

GENETIC TESTING: In the wake of Angelina Jolie's preventive double mastectomy, a new Harris Interactive/Health Day poll indicates a growing percentage of U.S. women may ask their doctor if the same prophylactic measure might be right for them.

Of women surveyed, 5 percent said they'd medical advice on having a preventive mastectomy or ovary removal because of Jolie's decision.

That may seem like a small percentage, Health Day reports, but it translates to about 6 million women nationwide.

Katy Muldoon

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Diet soda vs. regular; low testosterone: Healthy Living

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