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.
I dunno. When I went through my training in the USAF in '94 my hair was red. Very red. I ran 2.5 miles on a leg with a stress fracture (didn't know) straight across my shin. It hurt like hell, but I finished the run with 3 seconds to spare.
My leg hurt like crazy so I went to sick call to get it checked out. The Army doctor who looked at it the day before the run claimed I had tendonitis. My instructors (Army for this training) said I could wait a few weeks and run the 2.5 mile PT test later, but I'd have to wait there while everyone else graduated. No way.
I ran it and was in tears by the time I finished, but finish I did. And made my time. Thank God.
When I got to my Air Force Base a few weeks later it still bothered me so I went to an Air Force Doc who x-rayed it and showed me the break right across the shin. When I explained that I ran the Army PT Test on it, her jaw hit the floor and she made the comment, "must be that red hair."
Never knew what she meant, but now I get it. :)
What is the fortune city graphic about? is that an advertisement?
Looks like I've got something going for me. Unfortunately, my firey locks are slowly turning snowy.
And can dish it out as well. (word to the wise: dont adopt any redheaded stepchildren!)
Not exactly your kind of article, but related to a discussion I remember from one of your earlier threads.
MYOB ;)
Exactly. I had a doc tell me that years ago, and, as a redhead, I can testify that this is true.
"Let's not try to find out!"
She was Greek, not Egyptian, and contempories describe her as redheaded.
...and better at causing it! ;-)
Yeah, they forgot THOR!
so you are posting under two different ID's? OB1kNO and Pyro?
LOL
Nope.
"My OB-GYN and my dentist agree."
There is a joke somewhere in there, I know it.
Very tangential: you know, I so loved her character, and they way she played her....
...but when you'd see her interviewed, or read anything she said, she's such a GOOF! (For instance, Dave Barry in a column quoted her as saying she was surprised they picked her for the part. "I thought they'd want someone with more breasts," she said. More? How many more?)
Dan
Not necessarily. Pain is a warning sign. If redheads have a higher tolerance for it, they are more likely to not heed it at a threshold others would and would quite likely get themselves removed from the gene pool relatively quickly.
My 3-1/2 year old has my hair (almost all of it), and he can run into doors and fall down on concrete and just pick himself up without missing a beat and go back to whatever it was he was doing.
I'm working on one that incorporates the phrase "heads or tails." Give me time...
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