Are Women's Hands Germier Than Men's?

Before I read the new study, I knew the answer. Women's hands are definitely germier. Despite my frequent washings--before meals, before preparing food, after using the bathroom, plus after cleaning up the mess in my house--I know that as a mom I am the one responsible for handling all the germy stuff around my house. 

The bad news, both genders have more bacteria on their palms than researchers predicted according to the new study from the University of Colorado published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study found that palms have 100 times the bacteria they previously assumed.

The good news: most of the bacteria we have on our body are either harmless or beneficial.

Bacteria comes in many forms--about 332,000 gene sequences according to the study. The average hand in the study had about 150 species of bacteria. The left and right hands had different types and amounts of bacteria. The study found more than 4,700 bacterial species on all hands. Only five were common among all volunteers!

Hand washing is a good practice and it will reduce bacteria, but according to the study it doesn't seem to affect the diversity of bacteria on hands. Why does this happen? The volunteers in the study may not have washed adequately or the bacteria came back quickly after handwashing. 

Why are women's hands germier? No one knows exactly why, but here are a few things to consider: mens hands are more acidic, women and men have different sweat and oil gland production, women use more moisturizers and cosmetics, women and men have different skin thickness, and differences in hormones.