While women who have less than ample bosoms might wish they were a little more “blessed in the chest” as they say, those of us with larger cup sizes know that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Clothes don’t fit right, our backs hurt, and there’s literally no way a natural DD is ever going to be anywhere near perky. Now there’s even worse news: having a larger chest also means suffering from worse colds!
- Everyone gets sick but we have it worse. According to research performed in Poland and published in Archives of Sexual Behavior, women with bigger chests tend to have respiratory infections for twice as long as those with flatter chests, with F-cups having the infection for roughly 8.3 days while AA-cups got rid of the bug in about 3.8. Ugh!
- We’re more likely to need antibiotics. The study, which relied on data from more than 400 young, non-pregnant white women, discovered that women with bigger chests are also way more likely to require a course of antibiotics for our illness than those with flatter chests. It just keeps getting better!
- Can breast fat decrease the immune system? Many scientists think so. They believe that leptin, a hormone that’s produced within fatty tissue, may be at the root of this, though more research is required to find out what the trend is really all about. Whatever the cause, a weakened immune system means it’s much harder to recover from infections.
- The study does have some limitations. Admittedly, researchers came to the conclusions they did based on data provided by the study participants themselves, which is always a bit of a gamble. After all, not everyone can remember the exact details of what they had for dinner last night, let alone how long they were sick for the last time they got a cold. However, the trends seemed consistent enough for scientists to feel comfortable with their findings.
- Thankfully, I seem to be defying the odds. My knockers are pretty big but my immune system is pretty robust and I haven’t had a cold or flu in as long as I can remember (knock on wood). It just goes to show you that there are many things that affect health and that we’re not doomed just because we wear a bigger bra size.
