Some new Canadian research states that Estrogen makes women healthier. In addition to the long-standing knowledge that it makes bones more durable and muscles more elastic, we have a study that says it also controls inflammation:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8047321.stm

The really short version:

Oestrogen seems to hobble an enzyme which blocks the inflammatory process.

The intent is to use this information to make men healthier. After explaining the methods employed in testing, the article ends with a question that the researchers still wonder:

But writing in the journal, the researchers said: "A question remains: will men be amenable to the idea of being treated with an exclusively female hormone?"

The answer should be a resounding “No!” Everything that I have ever heard about why guys should take lessons from girls in how to live came back to mind after reading this article. Some of those have included choices in how we eat or recommendations to not press ourselves so hard. But there are some things guys just can’t control. One of those is how they were designed. Of course the article states that this ability to be healthier for the nurturing of the young is the result of millions of years of evolution. So we’re improving things, right? I doubt it. My first rejection of this new course of action is on the grounds of principle. Wouldn’t a man with a more robust immune system, who could better protect the pregnant woman, be a prime candidate to have his “superior” genes passed on too? We give evolution entirely too much credit. Or follow first premises blindly. The second reason that I don’t think we are improving matters is because there is a readily accessible anti-inflammatory that works well already. It does not require extensive lab work or manipulation and is safe for virtually everyone. There is also the added bonus that it builds up the immune system at the same time. This wonderful item is called garlic. As if men, in general, didn’t already have enough problems with too many estrogens, we want to add another source. That would tend to push men toward infertility which in turn will help to kill off the precious evolutionary leap that women have made by slowing reproduction even farther. No, let’s not do such a brash thing. Please.