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Redheads are better at coping with pain
CTV.ca ^

Posted on 08/11/2005 12:10:20 PM PDT by Grig

People with ginger locks are head and shoulders above blondes or brunettes when it comes to coping with pain, researchers claim.

Scientists have found that the gene responsible for flame-coloured hair also produces a morphine-type substance that acts like an anaesthetic and reduces pain.

When researchers at the Medical Research Council in London introduced the gene in mice, they found the rodents could withstand more pain than normal.

"Seventy per cent of redheads are redheads because a particular gene doesn't work," Prof. Jeff Mogil of Montreal's McGill University, told CTV News.

"This is a gene that would otherwise give you brown hair. This gene is also relevant to pain and pain killing by certain drugs."

Researchers in Scotland will now launch studies on humans to confirm the theory.

The findings could lead to the development of new drugs to combat chronic pain.

The hair colour gene produces a protein pivotal to feeling pain.

In blondes and brunettes, it produces high levels of the protein, which means they feel pain much more keenly.

The gene that's linked to red hair, melanocortin-1, dates back about 100,000 years.

Ancient Romans considered the colour unlucky but the Egyptians thought redheads were favoured by the gods. Some of the Pharaohs were ginger.

Britain's greatest warrior, Boudicca, was a redhead. One Roman described her as "tall and terrifying... a great mass of red hair fell over her shoulders".

Being tougher than the rest could also explain the strength of famous redheads through the ages.

Napoleon, Cleopatra, Columbus, Vincent Van Gogh, William Shakespeare, George Washington, Florence Nightingale and Winston Churchill were all redheads.


TOPICS: Extended News; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: freckles; gingergene; gingers; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; redhair; redheads; spankem
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To: Tijeras_Slim
Well my red hair comes from a bottle (originally a brunette) but I've always had a high tolerance to pain.
41 posted on 08/11/2005 12:27:34 PM PDT by proudofthesouth (Boycotting movies since 1988)
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To: Grig

"Scientists have found that the gene responsible for flame-coloured hair also produces a morphine-type substance that acts like an anaesthetic and reduces pain."

So this is what's affecting my crazy neighbor. Who knew.


42 posted on 08/11/2005 12:27:36 PM PDT by poobear (Imagine a world of liberal silence.)
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To: Pyro7480
Thanks - I hate when that happens.......;-)


43 posted on 08/11/2005 12:27:42 PM PDT by OB1kNOb (A closed mouth gathers no foot.)
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To: Junior

Ohhhhh, according to the people I went to college with she was a black african.


44 posted on 08/11/2005 12:28:10 PM PDT by DesignerChick
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To: P8riot

When I was in elementary school, I walked around for 6 weeks--even played soccer--on a fractured ankle. And my hair's brown (or, for you ladies, dark chestnut).


45 posted on 08/11/2005 12:28:42 PM PDT by TheBigB (Gum would be perfection!)
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To: Junior

Ah! Logical.


46 posted on 08/11/2005 12:29:08 PM PDT by Not A Snowbird (Official RKBA Landscaper and Arborist, Duchess of Green Leafy Things)
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To: DesignerChick

Probably the products of a government school education.


47 posted on 08/11/2005 12:29:11 PM PDT by Junior (Just because the voices in your head tell you to do things doesn't mean you have to listen to them)
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To: CDHart

My wife would agree with you.


48 posted on 08/11/2005 12:29:48 PM PDT by PBRSTREETGANG
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To: SandyInSeattle

Red heads forever!!!!!


49 posted on 08/11/2005 12:31:22 PM PDT by golfisnr1 (Democrats are like roaches, hard to get rid of.>)
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To: RedBeaconNY; Grig
Somewhere else I read that redheaded females could tolerate pain better. Not sure if it was part of the same study or another one.
50 posted on 08/11/2005 12:31:43 PM PDT by A Ruckus of Dogs
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To: HitmanNY

As a redhead, one who was married to a redhead for twenty years, and has three redheaded kids, I don't have a clue what all this means.

But I do know she was pretty good at dishing out pain...and that I probably built up a pretty high tolerance for it! :-)


51 posted on 08/11/2005 12:31:58 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Lemmings: the ultimate team players!)
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To: Grig
I'm not a redhead, but my beard and sideburns are red. Considering my shoulder has been sublux for the last 8 years, I'd say I have a high tolerance for pain.

And as I have a weakness for redheads, I clicked on this thread for the pics. :)

52 posted on 08/11/2005 12:33:13 PM PDT by Dan from Michigan (Member - NRA, SAF, MGO, SAFR)
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To: Grig
Speaking as a life long redhead, I believe this is true. I have a much higher tolerance for pain than many. I have gotten migraines since I was a teenager and I always attributed being able to cope with other pain because I toughened up from the migraines. Maybe it's just in the hair!

I've had doctors note the red hair before surgery and childbirth because of the "thinner" blood of redheads.

Also, speaking as a life long redhead, I have been known to give pain better than most (lol) - just ask my poor husband and children.
53 posted on 08/11/2005 12:33:31 PM PDT by Republican Red (''Van der Sloot" is Dutch for ''Kennedy.")
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To: Grig

If you love a redhead, set her free ......if she follows you everywhere you go, pitches a tent in your front lawn and puts your new girlfriend in the hospital, she's yours.


54 posted on 08/11/2005 12:33:48 PM PDT by Jaysun (Democrats: We must become more effective at fooling people.)
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To: Grig
Talk about very painful,
55 posted on 08/11/2005 12:34:17 PM PDT by pikachu (What if there were no more hypothetical questions?)
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To: Grig

I would replace "coping with" with "causing" in this article. But that's just personal experience talking.


56 posted on 08/11/2005 12:34:24 PM PDT by AmishDude (Join the AmishDude fan club: "ROFLOL!" -- tuliptree76)
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To: golfisnr1

I'm losing my auburn hair... it's being overrun by silver. I'm starting to look like a Christmas decoration!


57 posted on 08/11/2005 12:34:48 PM PDT by Not A Snowbird (Official RKBA Landscaper and Arborist, Duchess of Green Leafy Things)
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To: Grig

Quesion from a blonde: "If I die my hair red, will I feel less pain?"


58 posted on 08/11/2005 12:35:35 PM PDT by msnimje
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To: Grig
Britain's greatest warrior, Boudicca, was a redhead.

She was tough, and . . . bodaceous.

59 posted on 08/11/2005 12:36:04 PM PDT by RightWhale (Withdraw from the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty and open the Land Office)
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To: Grig; blam; SunkenCiv

I think there was a similar article posted on FR a year or so ago -- but I'm not sure if it had the same conclusion or an opposite one.


60 posted on 08/11/2005 12:36:21 PM PDT by ValerieUSA
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