Posted
8/12/2009 05:37:00 PM
by Douglas
You should never beat your red-headed stepchild. Turns out, they feel more
pain, anyway, so technically, you don't have to beat 'em as hard!
A growing body of research shows that people with red hair need larger doses of anesthesia and often are resistant to local pain blockers like Novocaine. As a result, redheads tend to be particularly nervous about dental procedures and are twice as likely to avoid going to the dentist as people with other hair colors, according to new research published in The Journal of the American Dental Association.
Researchers believe redheads are more sensitive to pain because of a mutation in a gene that affects hair color. In people with brown, black and blond hair, the gene, for the melanocortin-1 receptor, produces melanin. But a mutation in the MC1R gene results in the production of a substance called pheomelanin that results in red hair and fair skin.
Interesting. I wonder if there's any research done on if any pain is felt by redheads when they play you dirty and fuck your brother? If only I had got my grant application in on time.