Health

Study finds women have more types of bacteria on their hands than men do

by Yuliya Talmazan | November 6, 2008 at 01:03 pm

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University of Colorado researchers found that women’s hands harbour more types of bacteria than men’s. Of course, this finding contradicts the widely held belief that women pay more attention to their personal hygiene than men, especially when it comes to washing their hands. It turns out that the variety of bacterial strains on people’s hands does not decrease with enhanced hand washing. Men's skin is more acidic, which makes for an unfavourable environment for microbes and might explain why men have less bacterial species on their skin.

A recent study reveals that not only do people's hands carry significantly more bacteria than previously believed, but there is a higher bacteria diversity in women's hands than in men's, according media reports Thursday.

The study conducted by researchers with the University of Colorado found only five common species shared among all 51 participants. The total number, however, was of a whopping 4,700 species. It was also noticed that the species from your left hand differ from those on your right hand.

The study also showed that the diversity of bacteria on individual hands was not significantly affected by regular hand washing, said the lead study author Noah Fierer.

Fierer speculated that the different skin pH might be an explanation to the higher diversity since men generally have more acidic skin. The findings also could be due to differences in sweat and oil gland production between men and women, the frequency of moisturizer or cosmetics applications, skin thickness or hormone production, he said.

Scientists are now working on determining what bacteria are normal to be found on people's hands and which trigger an alarm when it comes to developing certain diseases.