Curvy Women Are More Intelligent and Make Smarter Children
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of California, Santa Barbara took a good look at 16,000 women and found the hourglass-figure correlated closely with intelligence. The results of cognitive tests showed women with a lower waist-to-hip ratio outgunning their thicker counterparts.
The women determined those with hourglass figures were more intelligent than their counterparts with round or straight bodies, The Sunday Times of London reported.
Curvier women also tended to have more intelligent children, possibly because omega3 fatty acids are stored in their hips, the British newspaper said. Skinny women, or those whose fat deposits are around their waists do not have such deposits.
The study, to be published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior this week, may explain earlier findings that men prefer women with smaller waists than hips even if they are compared to slimmer women, said the study’s authors at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
It may also help break down the stereotype that attractive women are not intelligent.
Coming up with your waist-to-hip ratio is done by dividing your waist size by your hip size (waist ÷ hip = ratio). The smaller the number, the better (less than 1.0 is good; .8 is ideal).
A woman’s eye-popping hourglass figure offers drooling men more than just an irresistible image. Shapely hips and thighs hold essential nutrients that nurse brains and could produce smart kids too, say Steven Gaulin of the University of California at Santa Barbara and William Lassek of the University of Pittsburgh.
“Men respond because it’s reproductively important,” Lassek says. At a meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Lassek and Gaulin revealed that women with low waist-to-hip ratios (WHR) have children with better cognitive abilities than less curvy mothers.
The explanation lies in omega-3 fatty acids, which are tucked in the hips and thighs and also compose much of the human brain. Girls begin storing these fatty acids below the waist once puberty hits. The body hoards the biological building blocks in anticipation of a woman’s third trimester of pregnancy, when the fetal brain is in its most rapid stages of development. Lower body weight loss continues until the child stops breast-feeding. (Eating more omega-3s while expecting and nursing can contribute to development, but the body prefers its own reserves.) Meanwhile, waist fat increases brain-harming inflammation and is low in the fatty acids—not to mention its contribution to diabetes and heart disease.
Previous research had suggested the padding provides babies with a sturdy supply of energy. But, Lassek points out, “if it’s just for energy, why not have fat on your back?” Now wouldn’t that be sexy.
Tags: acid, curvy, DHA, hip, hourglass, Omega 3, waist
