Those kids at the coffee shop who look like they made poor life choices by staining every body part with ink? A scientific journal has given them something to throw back at their parents.
A study in the American Journal of Human Biology found that tattoos initially damage the body's disease-fighting mechanism by deeply puncturing the skin, leaving people prone to infections and stressing out their systems. But people who already have multiple tattoos and go back for more ink were found to have stronger immune systems and bounced back more quickly.
The levels of immunoglobulin A, a critical immune system protein, dropped a lot for people who received their inaugural body art. Yet there was a “statistically smaller decrease” in that antibody for people who had “more tattoo experience,” according to researchers at the University of Alabama.
Researchers compared the result to weightlifters, who get stronger and develop higher thresholds for pain and soreness the more they work out. That level of equilibrium, the body's default recuperation point, keeps getting set higher.
Before you run out to the tattoo parlor and ask for the entire U.S. map on your back, it's worth noting that the study was limited. Researchers sampled only 24 women and five men between ages 18 and 47. But at least you can now argue that if you have multiple tattoos, or want more, you have your long-term health in mind.
