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Eyespy: October 2012

Bringing you the quirkiest medical stories from around the world

Coke prevents cancer—Cocaine use reduces the risk of developing testicular cancers, says a study in Cancer (doi:10.1002/cncr.27554). Researchers looked at testicular germ cell tumours (TGCTs), the most common neoplasm of men aged 15-45. They questioned 163 men who had been diagnosed with TGCTs and 292 controls about their drug habits. Men who reported using cocaine had a notably reduced risk of TGCT in adjusted analyses, whereas those who admitted to ever using marijuana had a twofold increased risk of TGCT. Although it is not clear why cocaine has a protective effect, the authors suspect that it might kill sperm producing germ cells before they can become cancerous. If so, it seems that fertility would be also be impaired.

The comforts of cocoa—Compounds in cocoa could help to reduce blood pressure, according to a systematic review in The Cochrane Library (doi:10.1002/14651858.CD008893.pub2). Meta-analyses of 20 studies involving 856 mainly healthy participants showed

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