From: Jennifer
Viegas, Discovery
News
News headlines over the past few years have linked cat ownership to everything
from cancer to craziness, but new studies suggest that cats are actually
beneficial to human health, and may even reduce our risk for cancer and other
diseases.
Reports
in this week's issue of Biology Letters, for example, counter the
tabloid-suggested link between cats and human brain cancer.
Marion
Vittecoq of the Tour du Valat research center and her colleagues conclude that
cats should not be blamed for human cancer. In fact, studies show just the
opposite.
Vittecoq
told Discovery News that "according to our knowledge, studies that have
focused on the link between cancer and cat ownership so far have found either
no association at all or a reduced risk of cancer in cat owners."
As an
example, she and co-author Frédéric Thomas cite a National Institutes of Health
Study by G.J. Tranah and colleagues. It found dog and cat owners have a reduced
risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The longer the duration of pet ownership was,
the less chance the individual would suffer from this type of cancer.
Why
cats and dogs may benefit human health remains a mystery, but another study
from earlier this month provides some intriguing clues. It found that infants
having pets at home suffered from fewer respiratory tract illnesses.
Toddler
with kittens photo via Shutterstock.
Read
more at Discovery
News.
