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Redheaded women can stand higher pain levels claims study (http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=609&id=1755152005)

Wednesday, 10th August 2005

EBEN HARRELL

REDHEADED women have a greater ability to withstand pain than blondes or brunettes, according to new research.

Scientists from the University of Edinburgh are examining a gene mutation that, along with causing red hair, also gives women with the colouration a higher pain threshold than others. The mutation does not seem to have the same effect for male redheads. It is hoped the study will lead to new anaesthetics and pain-killing drugs.

The new research, by Professor Ian Jackson of the Medical Research Council's Human Genetics Unit, found female mice with the redhead gene have an unusually high pain threshold, which confirms earlier studies done on human females.

"It does appear that redheads have a significantly different pain threshold and require less anaesthetic to block out certain pains," Prof Jackson said.

When humans experience pain, the brain releases natural morphine-like opiates. In most people, the melanocortin-1 gene produces a protein that reduces the efficacy of opiate drugs. But in redheaded women, who have a non-functional mutation of the gene, natural and artificial painkillers work unhindered.

The painkilling effect has been found to be three times greater for redheaded women than for blondes, brunettes, or men. Differences in the way male and female brains process pain may explain the gender inconsistency. Researchers may now be able to locate new biochemical pathways that can be used to develop better pain medication.

The research could help explain the strong character of redheads down the ages - from Cleopatra, Elizabeth 1 and Florence Nightingale to Anne Robinson.

Princeton University scholar Ann Margaret Daniel, author of the forthcoming book, Redheads, said female redheads are powerful, mythological figures.

"What red hair denotes is power. Painters as well as poets used red hair for this purpose; Botticelli's strawberry-blonde Venus to the lavish women of Rembrandt and Rubens to nearly every Mary Magdalen put on canvas bear it out."

Scotland has long been a centre for the study of redheads because of its large population of people with the colouration. A University of Edinburgh researcher first identified the mutant gene, melanocortin-1, that causes red hair and around 40 percent of the Scottish population carry the gene while 7 to 10 per cent of the population are redheaded.

It is not known why Scotland has so many redheads. One theory suggests the climate was suitable for sun-sensitive redheads. Dark-skinned individuals were more likely to suffer from rickets or other forms of vitamin D deficiency without much sun exposure. Redheads with pale skin, however, could draw more nutrients from the sun and so had a better chance of survival.