Why do men have nipples?

Why do men have nipples? This is a question I have been asking my friends for years. I have been told that I think of the strangest things. Much to my surprise, earlier this year a book came out entitled “Why Do Men Have Nipples?” I couldn’t believe it!
I was somewhat relieved to know that I am not the only person who wondered such a thing.

Billy Goldberg, a New York physician, brought up odd questions and topics at cocktail parties and other social gatherings over the years, then wrote a book.The book contains all sorts of questions … “Hundreds of Questions You’d Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini” which is the subtitle of the book.

Some of the things people have wondered like why your teeth chatter when you’re cold, or if you could really catch a disease from sitting on a toilet seat.

“Chattering teeth is one way the body tries to generate heat. When the body gets too cold, the area of the brain called the hypothalamus alerts the rest of the body to begin warming up. Shivering, the rapid muscle movement that generates heat then begins. Teeth chattering represents localized shivering.”
“During the course of their research, Goldberg and Leyner found reports of gonorrhea, pinworm and roundworm found on toilet seats -- but catching something from it isn’t common. The authors discovered that an office setting might be worse for your health than toilet seats. Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona, found the typical office desk harbors some 400 times more disease-causing bacteria than the average toilet seat.”

Some other humorous questions included in the book are “What causes morning breath?” and “Why do beans give you gas?”

“Goldberg says morning breath results from anaerobic bacteria, the xerostomia (dry mouth) or the volatile sulfur compounds (which are waste products from the bacteria). Other contributing factors to foul oral odor include medication, alcohol, sugar, smoking, caffeine, and eating dairy products.Beans contain high percentages of sugars that our bodies are unable to digest, Goldberg explains. When the sugars make it to the intestines, bacteria go to work and start producing large amounts of gas.”

Ok, I finally have the answer to my burning question, the question I have asked repeatedly over the years, getting only a snickering reply of “You’ve got to be kidding”.

And why do men have nipples?

“While only females have mammary glands, we all start out in a similar way in the embryo, the authors explain. The embryo follows a female template until about six weeks, when the male sex chromosome kicks in. Men, however, have already developed nipples.”

Hmmm….I guess that is a pretty good explanation. I am still floored that my recurring question became the name of a book!