Your brain's sex can make you ill

Scientists say they have proof that the sex of the brain makes men and women more prone to different diseases.

Doctors know that women are more likely than men to have depression, anxiety or an eating disorder, while men are at higher risk of Parkinson's disease.

Post-mortem and brain imaging studies show that male and female brains are physically different.

Others [studies] have shown that hormone levels could play a part in multiple sclerosis.

Dr Carlo Pozzilli and colleagues at the University La Sapienza in Italy found that women with MS had lower levels of the male hormone testosterone throughout their monthly cycle compared to women who did not have MS.

In Parkinson's Disease ... when they took away the source of the testosterone in male rats by castrating them, the brain degeneration was lessened.

However, surprisingly, when they gave the male mice oestrogen the damage was even worse.

And my favourite bit 'cause I've said so for years ...

She scanned the brains of women before and after they were pregnant and found the brain shrank during pregnancy.

... but reversed by six months after delivery of the baby.