As we head in to peak man flu season, the great scientists at Harvard have performed some heroic research that can only be described as life-changing and groundbreaking.
As all men will know, being struck down with a case of the man flu only has a few cures: binge TV watching, plenty of playing video games and reading men's magazines, constant complaining and cup after cup of tea. While there hasn't been a scientific study yet that has shown this to be the ultimate cure, scientist at Harvard did recently reveal that man flu is not a myth, despite the derision and ridicule of womenfolk the world over.
According to The Daily Mail, a lack of oestrogen makes men "more likely to succumb to pneumonia and other respiratory diseases", which is a line you may need to memorise for future arguments. The increased resistance is linked to an enzyme called nitric oxide synthase 3 (NOS3), which is activated by oestrogen, and after performing some research on mice, they found that removing NOS 3 from the female mice made them less resistant to infection.
While the real application of this will be to stop colds and flu developing into pneumonia down the line, you can expect this study from Life Sciences to be quote up and down the country as the infected rate of those stricken with the terrible condition continues to grow during the winter months.
As The Mail also point out, there is further evidence from other studies that show that man flu is real too; a Durham University study showed that extra temperature receptors in the male brain mean that men experience symptoms of a cold worse than women, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that males tend to play down symptoms and are less likely than women to complain of being ill.
Via The Daily Mail. Main pic via Tomas/Flickr
