What's up in Sex Science these days?

"Great" piece in Forbes(?!?) touting the myriad⁽¹⁾ benefits of sex. Here, just look at the list of paragraph heads:

• Improved sense of smell
• Reduced risk of heart disease
• Weight loss, overall fitness
• Reduced depression
• Pain-relief
• Less-frequent colds and flu
• Better bladder control
• Better teeth⁽²⁾
• A happier prostate?

Reduced risk of heart disease: In a 2001 follow-on to the Queens University study mentioned above, researchers focused on cardiovascular health. Their finding? That by having sex three or more times a week, men reduced their risk of heart attack or stroke by half. In reporting these results, the co-author of the study, Shah Ebrahim, Ph.D., displayed the well-loved British gift for understatement: "The relationship found between frequency of sexual intercourse and mortality is of considerable public interest."

I've specifically called out his paragraph because of the bad science⁽³⁾. While Dr. Ebrahim didn't specifically state that there was causality, I believe it is implied. As is so often the case, there is causality, but it is inverted.

Fatties don't fuck frequently. They're not fat because they don't fuck; they don't fuck because they're fat. Seeing a positive correlation between frequency of sexual activity and cardiovascular health is really seeing a correlation between overall fitness and CV health. Duh.

I thought the article was awfully damn funny. Funny for its content, funny for its attempt to serve as a compendium of the top research efforts in the sex sciences, and funny for being in Forbes. Did I mention that this was in Forbes?

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¹ Well, fewer than 10K, but still a lot of reasons.
² You think I have something smarmy to say here, don't you? Well, I couldn't surpass Alan Farnham, who apparently thinks he's writing for Maxim: "Seminal plasma contains zinc, calcium and other minerals shown to retard tooth decay. Since this is a family Web site, we will omit discussion of the mineral delivery system."
³ Noting bad science in a cheeky article about sex in the popular press is a bit like reviewing the acting in porn, but by gum, someone's gotta do it.