The better half On the genetic superiority of women

Scientist, physician, and writer Moalem's (Inheritance, 2014) premise is a simple yet important one: women are stronger than men "at every stage of life." The cells of all genetic females have two X chromosomes, while genetic males have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome. This crucial difference, the author maintains, means that women live longer lives, are more resilient, and have more stamina than their male counterparts, which, in turn, enables them to battle disease and injury better than men. So why then is the medical establishment so male-centric? Advances in modern medicine have been based on research that has used exclusively male participants and male tissue and cells. Essentially, researchers treat women like men because what we know about the human body is based on male anatomy. Why, Moalem asks, despite all evidence to the contrary, has the medical establishment persisted in this dangerous bias? Moalem presents a cutting-edge look at the stubborn conservatism of modern medicine and what we can do to change it. Pair this with Emily Dwass' Diagnosis Female (2019).

A male physician and scientist argues that "women are simply stronger than men at every stage of life."Moalem (The DNA Restart: Unlock Your Personal Genetic Code To Eat for Your Genes, Lose Weight, and Reverse Aging, 2016, etc.) attributes female superiority largely to the two X chromosomes that determine female sex in humans, as opposed to the single X and much smaller Y chromosome that determines maleness. The two X's varyone inherited from the father and one from the motherso they enrich the genetic library women can draw upon. The conventional wisdom is that one of a woman's X's is silenced in each of her cells and that this happens randomly, so that, say in the kidney, one cell may have the mother's X silenced and be next to a cell that has the father's X silenced. This means that even if there is a bad gene on one of the X's, the other X will be present in sufficient numbers to compensate. Now, however, that conventional wisdom may need amending. There is evidence that some genes on the silenced X chromosome are functional, adding extra genetic power to females. Further, as Moalem accessibly explains, female cells can cooperate. For example, one female cell can generate an enzyme sorely needed by another female cell whose X has a mutation in the necessary gene. All this genetic endowment also leads to a more potent immune system, which is one of the reasons women generally outlive men; they are better survivors of infection and disease across the life span. There is a downside, however: Having a finely tuned immune system also leads to higher prevalence of autoimmune diseases in women. Ischemic stroke and Alzheimer's are also more common in women, for unknown reasons.Moalem's sharp text serves as a challenge to explore the vast unknown territory of chromosomal differences in men and women. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.