Posted on 11/03/2008 6:51:25 PM PST by Dysart
WASHINGTON (AP) - Wash your hands, folks, especially you ladies. A new study found that women have a greater variety of bacteria on their hands than men do. And everybody has more types of bacteria than the researchers expected to find.
"One thing that really is astonishing is the variability between individuals, and also between hands on the same individual," said University of Colorado biochemistry assistant professor Rob Knight, a co-author of the paper.
"The sheer number of bacteria species detected on the hands of the study participants was a big surprise, and so was the greater diversity of bacteria we found on the hands of women," added lead researcher Noah Fierer, an assistant professor in Colorado's department of ecology and evolutionary biology.
The researchers aren't sure why women harbored a greater variety of bacteria than men, but Fierer suggested it may have to so with the acidity of the skin. Knight said men generally have more acidic skin than women.
Other possibilities are differences in sweat and oil gland production between men and women, the frequency of moisturizer or cosmetics applications, skin thickness or hormone production, he said.
Women also may have more bacteria living under the surface of the skin where they are not accessible to washing, Knight added.
Asked if guys should worry about holding hands with girls, Knight said: "I guess it depends on which girl."
He stressed that "the vast majority of the bacteria we have on our body are either harmless or beneficial ... the pathogens are a small minority."
The researchers took samples from the palms of 51 college students—that's 102 hands—and tested the samples using a new, highly detailed system for detecting bacteria DNA.
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(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Gotta get through the cooties to get the goodies
let me see now...cooking, peeling,cutting up meat,changing diapers, wiping runny noses, cleaning the toilet....no, I can’t imagine where all these germs come from...
I didn't know my ex went back to school.
Other possible reasons...women are more likely to hold onto the hand of a snotty kid...and women are more likely to hold onto the handrails of stairs and escalators.
intresting. But it cant be possible. It goes against our male ideaology !. Women are cleaner. they never have gas and their poop doesnt stink !
This is what I use. And yes I am a hypochondriac.
Uhhhhh, you married? Ahhhh, didn’t think so.
“I would rather kiss a dog on the nose, than a girl on the cheek.”
Have you noticed the number of guys who walk out of public toilets without washing their hands? At Fenway it’s at least 80%. I avoid shaking hands whenever possible.
yes I am actully. lol. for over a year now. you learn.
Possibly.
Or maybe women are heavier users of antibacterial soaps, which have given rise to super resistant-or prolific-strains of bacteria.
They come from not washing!
That’s a pet peeve of mine. Often the time I’ve had to restrain the inclination to grab them by the ear and lead them back to the sink as they slither out the door after taking care of business. And ppl look at ME funny when I refuse to touch the bathroom door handle!
Then again, they were measuring college students. Who knows what those women were touching.
[Other possible reasons...women are more likely to hold onto the hand of a snotty kid...and women are more likely to hold onto the handrails of stairs and escalators.]
Or, most women are just filthy sluts.
Just a Theory! Please don’t hurt me with your filthy hands! :)
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