Women with bigger bottoms have more intelligent babies?

Scientists say curvy girls produce cleverer children. The fats in women's behinds were vital for development and such cells are routed directly towards baby's brains. The age-old riddle of why women are fatter than men may have been solved – they need curvy thighs, hips and buttocks to make their babies intelligent, the study claims.

Professor Will Lassek, a public-health epidemiologist at Pittsburgh University, Pennsylvania, who led the research, explained: ‘The fat in these areas is a depot for building a baby’s brain. You need lots of fat to make a nervous system, and the fats in these areas are also enriched in DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), which is a particularly important component in the human brain. It looks as if women have evolved to accumulate these fats and hold on to them – until a baby arrives.’


On why women have so much body fat – typically 30 per cent of their total weight, Professor Lassek said: ‘This is similar to the levels seen in bears going into hibernation or whales living in cold Arctic. Women have traded muscle for fat, so they are about a third as strong.’ Men’s bodies are made up of just five to 10 per cent body fat, and they have a much more linear shape as a result. Women’s extra fat is lost during breast-feeding, when it is needed for their baby’s brain", according to Professor Lassek, who has published his research in the book, Why Women Need Fat.


David Bainbridge, a reproductive biologist at Cambridge University who has also studied the female body shape, said the latest findings could explain why men find curvy women such as singer Jennifer Lopez so attractive: it’s because their children are likely to be cleverer.

‘The brain-building, breast-milk lipids (fats) are largely derived from the fat stored in a mother’s thighs and buttocks. Women with larger thighs have higher levels of these lipids. There is even evidence that they and their children are more intelligent as a result.’