Redheaded Women Have a Unique Ability
Blondes may have more fun, but redheaded women have a special quality that is as unique as their hair color. They have an innate ability to tolerate more pain than other people.
In studies on "redhead" mice, which actually have blonde fur but carry a similar gene to the one that causes red hair in humans, scientists from the Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh, Scotland were able to target the pain-reducing mechanism. These red-haired mice have a similar ability as human female redheads to withstand higher pain thresholds compared with other mice and require less anesthetic to block out certain kinds of pain.
This Scottish study was a follow-up to research conducted at McGill University in Montreal several years ago. While testing the painkilling drug pentazocine, the McGill researchers discovered that the same gene that gives women red hair and fair skin also plays a role in the body's natural pain suppression system. However, it doesn't work for male carrot-tops. Redheaded women can tolerate more pain than anyone else, including men with red hair and men and women who do not have red hair. The others all had a similar and much lower tolerance to pain than flame-haired females.
"While we believe pain is the same in all women of all hair colors, our study shows women with red hair respond better to the painkilling drug we tested than anyone else--including men," lead researcher Jeffrey S. Mogil, a professor of pain studies at McGill, said in a news release.
Why would the gene that gives red hair and fair skin--identified as Mc1r--work differently in redheaded men and women? Mogil told Reuters that men and women are using different pain pathways. "If they were using the same pathways, then the redhead gene would have the same impact for both sexes," he added.
When we experience pain, our bodies attempt to dull the discomfort by releasing natural substances that are similar to medications like morphine. The gene Mc1r influences the pathway through which the body doles out those naturally occurring painkillers in women. It appears that in most people, the Mc1r gene produces a protein that reduces the ability of opioid drugs to block pain; however, in redheaded women, who have a non-functional version of the gene, such painkillers are free to work unhindered.
The goal of this ongoing research is to determine if there is a natural mechanism at work in redheads that can be adapted to help develop new painkillers and anesthetics for the rest of us.
Melanocortin-1 Gene for Red Hair and Pain Tolerance
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�It does appear that redheads have a significantly different pain threshold and require less anaesthetic to block out certain pains,� Professor Ian Jackson of the Medical Research Council�s Human Genetics Unit, said.
I hate to contradict Professor Jackson (ok, maybe I like it), but three years ago, research
