If ‘man flu’ means men moaning on about minor symptoms, then yes: man flu is real | Tim Dowling

Another health advocate has said the phenomenon is genuine - and take it from me, it is. But not in the way she's suggesting

You don't need a man to tell you man flu is real, although he still will. And now health advocates are agreeing with us: nutritionist Jenna Hope, author of the new book How to Stay Healthy, is perhaps the most recent to argue that men really do suffer more than women when they're ill. When we look at the evidence we find that the female immune system is actually stronger than the male immune system," she told the Times. Women have higher levels of progesterone and oestrogen, she says, which tend to support the immune system, while men have higher levels of testosterone, which suppresses immunity.

But when we talk about man flu, are we really talking about an increased sensitivity to symptoms, or just a decreased ability to stop going on about them? The term man flu" has always suggested exaggeration, not least because the illness in question is almost never flu; it's usually just a cold.

Tim Dowling is a Guardian columnist