SubscribeDo Curvier Women Have Smarter Kids?
Research in Evolution and Human Behavior has found an interesting relationship between a mother's gluteofemoral (i.e. butt and thigh) fat and her child's cognitive ability.
Essentially: hourglass-shaped women have smarter kids.
J Lo: 0.66 WHR
Professors Lassek and Gaulin found that the the fat gathered around the buttocks and thighs tends to hold deposits of omega-3 fatty acids (the human brain is comprised of about 8% omega 3 fats).
The fat that gathers around the waist tends to hold more omega-6 fatty acid deposits.
Waist-to-Hip ratio (WHR) is used to measure this affect: divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement. 0.6 to 0.7 is thought to be a good indicator of the hourglass figure.
Controlling for other correlates of cognitive ability, women with lower WHRs and their children have significantly higher cognitive test scores, and teenage mothers with lower WHRs and their children are protected from cognitive decrements associated with teen births.(via)
More like this in Teens and Kids · Nov 21, 2007
In that case, my children will be GENIUSES!
Replywith my genetics, i concur with liz...
ReplyMy moms measurements are 51-32-51 and I'm a genius.
ReplyNope...all my little straight-A munchkins come from my hip-less body.
ReplyFish oil is the greatest.
Replyi'm confused - the study seems to confound butt and thigh fat with a low WHR. if it's really just the butt and thigh fat that makes babies smarter, then it shouldn't matter what the mother's body shape or WHR is; as long as she has those omega-3's in her butt and thighs, she should be popping out einsteins.
but if it's really the mom's WHR that makes babies smarter, then something else is going on. while JLo may have an ideal WHR, keep in mind that so does kate moss. maybe women with these dimensions attract more capable mates who are able to provide the safe, nurturing environment necessary for fostering intelligent young minds. in that case, it's NOT the butt and thigh fat in action.
ReplyMy mom is not really "curvy", but she is overweight. However, she wasn't that overweight before having me and my IQ is 156. She gained a bunch of weight and then had my sister, whose IQ is in the 120s. She continued to gain weight when she had my brother and his IQ is in the 110s. So I wonder if gaining fat has some sort of negative effect on IQ or maybe it also has to do with how much of certain nutrients the mother consumes while pregnant.
ReplySomething to ponder, hmm. My ratio is .75, guess my future kids are up a creek. lol.
ReplyEveryone eat omega-3's, especially expectant mothers and growing children. Better nutrition, better bodies, better brains.
I don't think it's the waist-to-hip ratio that matters here, but the omega-6-to-omega-3 ratio. And that ideally is 1:1.
ReplyMy kids are going to be smart!
(Sure, some might say it's because both my fiance and myself are in the top two percentile so far as IQ is concerned, but I know it's my curvy .69 WHR.)
ReplyMy fiance suggests that maybe smarter men like curvier women. :D ;)
ReplyThere's a silver lining to everything I guess. lol. :)
ReplyGluteofemoral fat is the sexiest! SEXY as!
But I guess you can supplement with a lot of ultra refined fish oil for your new kid if you don't have much gluteofemoral fat.
ReplyI don't really get how having a curvy mother makes you smart, but my mom has an hourglass figure and I am very smart, lol.
ReplyYeah, my high IQ came from my hipless mother. Her measurements are something like 43-26-33
Replyhi my name is shanti and my mom is very curvy but i struggle to get c's in school. she grew up eating a lot of fish and still i am not smart.
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