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As if “Kick a Ginger” Day wasn’t bad enough, the one to two percent of the population bearing red tresses appear to run some other health risks you may not have heard about.

Rachael Rettner at LiveScience takes a closer look at the issues redheads face more often than their blonde or brunette brethren, none of which will likely make their sperm look any more attractive.

More sensitive to pain

Redheads appear to be more sensitive to pain, and less sensitive to the kinds of local anesthesia used as the dentists, research recent suggests.

A 2004 study found that redheads required significantly more anesthetic in order to block pain from an unpleasant electric stimulation…

Increased Parkinson’s risk

A 2009 study of more than 130,000 people who were followed for 16 years found that those with lighter hair colors were at increased risk for Parkinson’s disease compared to those with black hair.

Redheads had the highest risk — they were nearly twice as likely to develop Parkinson’s, compared to people with black hair.

Full story at LiveScience.

Health in the red zone.

Photo credit: Fotolia