FUN FACT: Are there health benefits to having red hair?

Scientists believe that redheads are able to fight off certain debilitating and potentially fatal illnesses more effectively than blondes or brunettes. The reason for this is that pale complexions allow more sunlight into the skin. As a result, more of the sun’s UV rays penetrate through the skin’s layers, encouraging the production of vitamin D in the body, which helps to prevent a range of conditions including rickets, and the lung disease tuberculosis, which can be fatal. Even as recently as fifty years ago, rickets was a fairly common disorder, which led to the weakening and bowing of people’s bones.

For more fascinating miscellany, check out Why You Shouldn’t Eat Your Boogers & Other Useless and Gross Information About Your Body by Francesca Gould