Are you interested in taking part in a health survey about hormones, sex, and aging?

When the drug sildenafil citrate (trade name Viagra®) was introduced in 1998, it was an immediate huge seller, underscoring how prevalent and important erectile dysfunction (ED) had become. Although Viagra and other similarly acting medications remain widely prescribed, there are side effects and the potential for adverse interactions with other medications. Consequently, some men may not be able to take these medications while others may prefer not to or may be unable to afford them. For these individuals, effective lifestyle modifications would be an attractive option for addressing ED.

As men age, changes occur that affect both circulation and testosterone levels, which, in turn, affect male sexual functioning. Atherosclerosis, the buildup of plaques in blood vessels, which can impede circulation throughout the body, is the most common cause of erectile dysfunction. Diet and lifestyle factors are undoubtedly linked to circulation, which may explain why some men can maintain healthy sexual functioning well into old age. At the same time, testosterone is known to decrease with age, such that on average the mean levels in men over 60 are on the low end of normal. Just as they affect the circulatory system, diet, lifestyle factors, and overall health have been correlated with testosterone levels and sexual functioning. For example, obesity is linked to low testosterone.

Similarly, many women report symptoms of menopause that are highly problematic, such as hot flashes, decreased sex drive, vaginal dryness, and weight gain. In these cases, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is considered the treatment of choice; however, a large number of women forego this option as taking these medications puts them at increased risk for breast cancer, blood clots, heart disease, and stroke, as well as side effects such as headaches, bloating, nausea, vaginal bleeding, and mood changes. Both diet and lifestyle factors may affect how women experience menopausal symptoms. For example, sources of phytoestrogens (e.g., soy), which are thought to substitute for declining estrogen levels, have been investigated as a dietary intervention for menopause with mixed results.

Although there is evidence that diet and lifestyle factors are associated with hormonal and sexual health as people age, there are still many open questions, especially regarding how people following diverse diets age, and how lifestyle factors and overall health interact with diet.

We are currently recruiting a diverse sample of participants, representing a variety of lifestyle and diet choices, for two survey studies, which we hope will be the largest to date investigating these questions. If you would like to be a part of these studies and are between the ages of 45 and 80, please enter one of the following links:

For women: surveymonkey.com/r/healthywoman2

For men: surveymonkey.com/r/Healthyman2

Cynthia Radnitz, Ph.D.
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Teaneck, NJ

Bonnie Beezhold, Ph.D.
Benedictine University
Lisle, Illinois

By Victor Sjodin, Director of Outreach

On January 14, I set out on a journey to India, where I’ll be touring for the next ten weeks. I’ll be leafleting all over the country, training local activists, and speaking to groups about effective animal activism.

The first two-and-a-half days were rough. I was violently ill on the plane with some sort of acute food poisoning that struck me about four hours into my 19.5-hours of flying. I considered going to the hospital in Istanbul during my layover, but I forced myself onto the connecting flight. I was about as sick as I have ever been. I decommissioned an area on the first flight, and on the second flight the attendants spoke to the pilot and wanted to call to see if a doctor was on board! I feared the possibility of being quarantined upon arrival, so I asked them not to do that.

When Kimberly Moffatt (who is traveling with me to help with outreach) and I made it to Delhi, we breezed through customs. Shweta from the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organizations (FIAPO) and her colleague Prashant met us at the airport at 5:00 am. They insisted on meeting us that early, and we were so glad they came. They whisked us off to a hotel, where we immediately fell asleep. I was now running a fever and still feeling bad, but thankfully I slept it off in a 19-hour slumber.

At 8:30 am we were picked up by FIAPO’s stellar volunteer Verhaen. I participated in a meet-and-greet event and then gave a talk to about 20 activists and a few more curious newbies. Although I wasn’t in peak form, the talk went well. During my talk, the excitement for starting more leafleting in India was palpable. I was profoundly inspired by the activists we met and rode their enthusiasm through the day. One listener, Amit, made the highlight of my trip so far by telling me, “You’ve got your first convert in India.” After the talk he decided to go vegan, and he also leafleted with us that day.

We leafleted for an hour and change at a nearby upscale shopping area and park. It went really well. We reached mostly affluent youth, an ideal demographic. There were tons of readers, and we saw discussions started, people engrossed in learning, and two people stopped in their tracks to read the booklets from cover to cover. We did see some people discard the booklets, but we retrieved and re-used most of them. Although still physically weak, I felt a surge of inner happiness to see an idea come to fruition, as I have wanted to bring Vegan Outreach to India for a long time.

Culturally the things that hit me in India so far are the incessant symphony of honking horns of the street traffic, the passion of the incipient AR activist community here, and the fact that, except for the cab driver, everyone we have met seems to speak perfect English which makes for easy communication with new friends and the public.

We were also greatly impressed by FIAPO’s professional and warm staff and MFA’s Communications Consultant, Subru, who lives in India and flew up to join us for the week. Subru also delighted Kim when I asked him if there was an ethical way to interact with elephants (he is also a health inspector of elephants), and he offered to take us to see his 46-year-old rescued elephant when in Bangalore.

Our trip so far has been off to a great start! I’m beyond thankful to be on the mend so fast, and I’m overpowered by the kindness of the local activists. I hope to write more about our work soon. View more pics on Facebook here.

Namaste.

By Katia Rodríguez, VO Mexico Campaigns and Spanish Media Coordinator

Last month, Emmanuel Márquez, Vegan Outreach’s Mexico Outreach Coordinator, and I were invited to the Gira Expo Conciencia Animal (GECA), a tour of events that promotes respect for animals, namely dogs and cats. GECA travels to various areas throughout our Mexican state, Nuevo Léon, and includes conferences, adoption opportunities, and spaying and neutering services.

It was a great occasion to do outreach because the people attending the event were already interested in helping animals. We felt that these individuals would be open to expanding their circle of compassion to farmed animals, but that they needed to be informed about the abuses that take place on factory farms.

Emmanuel and I, along with Vegan Outreach volunteers Constanza Zuñiga, Luis Zepeda, Carlos Contreras, and Ángel Ramírez set up a table at the GECA event in Monterrey, Nuevo Léon with information and tablets for Pay Per View (PPV).

For those of you unfamiliar with PPV, it’s an effective form of outreach where people are typically paid a few dollars to view a short video that briefly describes the inhumane treatment of animals in the meat and dairy industries. Immediately following the video, viewers are prompted with a survey asking how likely they are to make changes to their diet.

Instead of paying people money at this event, we decided to give them a pack of vegan chocolate cookies instead. We wanted to debunk the myth that vegan food has no taste or is not good. Everybody loved them!

More than 150 people saw the video and over 300 received a leaflet. Most people who stopped to watch the video expressed interest in making changes to their eating habits! We engaged in some good conversations and invited everyone to visit the Spanish section of the Vegan Outreach website. We also told them about the Spanish Vegan Mentor Program, Programa Mentor Vegano.

Overall, this was a great and effective outreach event!

Vegan Outreach’s Director of Outreach, Victor Sjodin, will be presenting “Leafleting 101: The Art and Science of Personal Advocacy” at the Conference on Animal Rights in Europe (CARE). This event will be hosted in Warsaw, Poland on Friday, July 29 – Sunday, July 31, 2016.

Thank you, Victor, for taking this important message to our friends in Eastern Europe!

By Lisa Rimmert, VO Director of Development

Now is not the time.

This is not the place.

Those thoughts entered my brain last night and this morning as I considered bringing up a sensitive topic at the Animal Rights National Conference (ARNC), which begins today in Los Angeles.

The topic? Police brutality. State sanctioned violence against black men. Racism in general. What white animal rights activists like me can and should do about it.

Perhaps now you’re thinking, “It has nothing to do with us.” I have felt similarly. I too have those thoughts inside my head, telling me that this isn’t my business, that it’s not my place to say anything, that violence against black people has nothing to do with violence against animals. But after listening to black voices, including those of my coworkers, I will make it a point to ignore those thoughts in my head.

As many people have said, “Black lives matter more than white feelings.” People are being murdered. It’s too important not to address. And I’m precisely the person to say something.

As an animal rights activist, I stand for justice—for everyone. I stand against oppression in all forms. I speak up against violence, period.

As a white person, it’s my duty to use my privilege to speak up. And if you’re a white person reading this, it’s your duty too.

Yes, it’s uncomfortable to wade into the racial justice “arena.” I worry that I won’t say the right thing, do the right thing, be a perfect ally. I worry that people will judge me or misconstrue what I say. I worry that people will think my support of the Black Lives Matter movement means I condone or support killing cops (I don’t). But I need to recognize that, while I have the luxury of deciding whether to address this issue, my black friends and colleagues don’t have that choice. They’re living this. There’s no “arena” for them—there’s just everyday life. The black men who are being shot and killed by police are their brothers, fathers, uncles, and sons. With privilege comes responsibility.

There’s a lot of information online about what white people can do right now. A Google search will yield many great results. Some actions seem too small, but it’s the little things that accumulate to create cultures of injustice, so we need to change the little things to dismantle it too.

I won’t try to say what others have already said very eloquently. Instead I will do some reading and invite you to do the same. And when we’re mingling and listening to presentations at the ARNC, let’s have some of this information in our minds. Just like in our activism for animals, there’s a lot we can do if we put aside fear of judgment.

When we’re talking with fellow activists, let’s gently call them out if they make an unintentionally racist comment. Let’s question our own use of words that may perpetuate oppression. Let’s support activists of color by letting them know we’re here, and listening to them when they tell us what they need.

As I head to the conference, I do so knowing that it is the time. It is the place. There are too many people today who are grieving loved ones—the families of black men and the families of police officers—and it’s fitting and necessary that we include humans this weekend in our discussions about justice.