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Getty Images, EPA, Getty Images
Look at all those sexy immune systems!
By Stephanie Pappas
LiveScience
Women may drool over George Clooney and Brad Pitt, but their lust may be more for these macho guys' immune systems than their pretty faces and chiseled abs, new research suggests.
Men with high levels of the sex hormone testosterone are seen as more hunky — and these same men have stronger immune responses, researchers report Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. The findings suggest that women may be attracted to manly facial types because the macho look signals good health.
Researchers led by Fhionna Moore of Abertay University in the United Kingdom recruited 74 Latvian men in their early 20s to give blood samples right before and one month after their first dose of the Hepatitis B vaccine. The vaccine triggers the immune system to create antibodies against the virus. The researchers measured these levels of antibodies as well as testosterone levels and levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
Next, 94 Latvian women, also in their early 20s, rated photographs of each man on a 10-point scale of attractiveness. The researchers then looked for links between the immune response as measured by Hepatitis B antibodies, hormone levels and attractiveness.
They found that high testosterone correlated with both sexy faces and a strong immune response. Men with the strongest immune responses were rated as better looking than those with weak immune responses. The link between testosterone and hotness was strongest in men with low levels of the stress hormone cortisol, suggesting that stress might take a toll on the immune system, and thus women's ratings of attractiveness.
While much research has hinted at a relationship between testosterone and the immune system, this study is the first to directly link women's opinions of a man's looks with the strength of his immune system. Researchers next hope to tease out whether the results hold across cultures and across different age ranges.
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Leave a Comment:
I think someone is just trying to be clever here. I think they were too clever by half.
So all us "ugly" guys should start injecting extra testosterone?
No. Go study something worthwhile!
Start going to the gym regularly. It will increase your testosterone levels dramatically.
Since females of other species choice healthy males it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that humans do too.
Immune system or wallet thickness? You be the judge.
In a way they are the same thing. More money = better healthcare. In the end women are judging men based on overall "fitness" (in the Darwinian sense of the word).
Oh - having several million in the bank doesn't hurt either.
None of those 3 guys appeal to me at all, of course I'm a straight male.
Still I have never seen the appeal of Leonardo, or Brad. Clooney seems to actually have a personality.
Newspapers, tv and radio hyped these 3 guys up to make money, but if these 3 people were normal people that goes to the grocery store like any other, they wouldn't be really noticed or admired.
JOregon, I can see your problem. ;) I get it with George, Leo is a bit young for me, but Brad in THAT picture. Uh...no thank you. They could've picked much better guys for the pics!
It might have truth to it, but it is minor. It is more about personality in the end about how masculine he looks. If the guy is total dumb and so masculine, it is not very attractive either. It is relative.
I have noticed an inverse correlation between a guy's hotness and his performance. Those hot guys think being hot is enough in itself, while the less hot guys tend to work a little harder. Older women have learned this over time, so you less-hot guys - you might want to pay attention to those more mature gals.
Only if they are "hot n very naughty":)
My immune system is great and i'm hounded by women. can be a double edge sword. how do i lower my immune system. to much of a good thing. but it's good for the ego,which can make your immune system better. thank god i'm single, impossible to be married.
Hmm i always thought that blow jobs made women drool. But on the more serious side this article suggests that testosterone= better immune system. So im gonna up my testosterone injections to boost my immune system.
I don't buy it. My immune system is an apocalyptic threshing machine. I haven't been sick in years, and I don't get flu shots, etc. Yet, to date, no woman has shoved Tom Selleck aside to get to me.
The better way to have done this study would have been to measure the attractiveness of men after and before the shot. Did the attractiveness go up as the immune response went up? Were the men attractive to begin with? Not a great sounding study from this article.
You know what also makes women drool? Bucketloads of money.