Man flu is for real - and women are to blame

CANADA: For years men have suffered taunts from female partners that ‘‘man flu’’ is merely an exaggeration of minor colds.

However, one brave scientist is fighting back, arguing that the phenomenon is the result of a weaker immune system that is an evolutionary side-effect of cavemen fighting for mates.

And as such, of course, man flu – the concept that men might be prone to describing sniffles as flu – turns out to be all women’s fault.

Yet Kyle Sue, assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Newfoundland, said we should not accept this without scientific evidence.

His review of medical literature – prompted, he admits, because he was ‘‘tired of being accused of over-reacting’’ – concludes that the term is unfair.

Writing in the Christmas edition of the BMJ medical journal, he points to evidence that men are more likely to be admitted to hospital and die of flu. Other evidence suggests women respond better to the flu vaccine than men.

Some studies have suggested that the female sex hormone oestradiol can boost immune responses to the flu virus and testosterone may suppress them.

Sue has considered possible evolutionary reasons for the difference in mortality. The drawbacks of testosterone could have been worth it for our ancestors if it meant ‘‘winning at the high-stakes games males play’’ through more aggressive behaviour.

Worse immune systems might also have been less important for cavemen, who were often murdered before infection could kill them.

Sue argues that the theory points to the need to research whether men with better immune systems get less sex. ‘‘Can the blame for man flu be shifted to the people who select these men as sexual partners, rather than the men themselves?’’ he said.

Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, dismissed the findings: ‘‘The vast majority of robust scientific evidence suggests that there is no such thing as ‘man flu’.’’ – The Times