Good news of the day: Gotta love those humps

Curvy mothers have brainier kids
10 November 2007
From New Scientist Print Edition.

CURVIER women may have smart children because hip fat contains polyunsaturated fatty acids critical for the development of the fetus's brain.

Using data from the US National Center for Health Statistics, William Lassek at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania and Steven Gaulin of the University of California, Santa Barbara, found a child's performance in cognition tests was linked to their mother's waist-hip ratio, a proxy for how much fat she stores on her hips.

Children whose mothers had wide hips and a low waist-hip ratio scored highest, leading Lassek and Gaulin to suggest that fetuses benefit from a rich supply of useful fatty acids (Evolution and Human Behavior, DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2007.07.005)

URL: http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg19626295.600-curvy-mothers-have-brainier-kids.html?feedId=online-news_rss20