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发表于 2015-3-8 18:32:35
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Fat stored in moms' butts helps build babies brains, intelligence
A scientist at the University of Pittsburgh says recent studies have provided answers to a question that has baffled scientists for long: Why do women have so much fat in their thighs, hips and bottoms compared with females of other animal species?
The answer, according to Professor Will Lassek at the University of Pittsburgh, appears to be that women store fat in their thighs, bottom and hips because their babies need the fat to build healthy brains and thus develop high intelligence.
A lot of fat goes into building babies' brains and central nervous system. According to scientists, these fats are derived mostly from the reserves in mothers’ bottoms, hips and thighs. Availability of maternal fat reserves during critical developmental stages could, therefore, directly influence a child’s intelligence.
The new research finding suggests that a moderate level of fatness is healthy for women and their babies. It suggests that the war against female fat in western cultures due to the peculiar aesthetic preference for thinness which leads to models with skinny thighs, bony hips and masculine six-pack abs being promoted as the standard of beauty and health, could be seriously misguided.
It also suggests why, despite the promotion of bony and muscular women by the fashion culture, men feel instinctively attracted to deep-bodied and curvy women: Men might have evolved to prefer curvy women because they produce healthier and more intelligent children who have better chances of survival.
According to Professor Lassek, in an interview with the UK's Sunday Times, new research suggests that the development of babies' brains during pregnancy and breastfeeding relies heavily on the ability to mobilize fat from the mother's "curves," namely, her thighs, hips and bottom.
Lassek said that studies have found that the quantity of fat stored in the mother's buttocks, thighs and hip could be directly related to the level of intelligence of her child. He noted that compared with human females with body fat levels of up to 30 percent, mammals and other primate females, including human males, have only about five to ten percent body fat. He said, "This is similar to the levels seen in bears going into hibernation or whales living in cold Arctic seas. Women have traded muscle for fat so they are about a third as strong."
Lassek, who has published several papers on the subject, and is the author of the book "Why Women Need Fat," said that fats in women's lower body curves are high in a brain-building substance called docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA. He told Sunday Times: "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."
The critical role that female fat reserves have played in the evolution of intelligence during the five million years in which the volume of the human brain increased three-fold, from 400 ml to 1,200 ml, could explain why women find it difficult to shed weight in their "curvy" parts through dieting. Women have apparently evolved to accumulate special brain-building fat reserves and hold on to them until the baby who needs them arrives.
Although women are conditioned by western cultural tastes to consider hard-to-shed hip, thigh and bottom fat reserves "stubborn fat," latest research shows that nature knows better and that "stubborn fat" contains vital nutrients for building babies' brains.
"The fat in these areas is a depot for building a baby’s brain,” Lassek said. "It looks as if women have evolved to accumulate these fats and hold on to them — until a baby arrives."
Lassek explained further that around 80 percent of the DHA needed for building a baby's brain is derived from fat stored in the mother’s hips and thighs and bottom. He said, "Less than 1% of body fat is DHA so a lot of fat has to be shifted. That’s why lactating women may lose a pound of fat a month."
That is, the mobilization of the mother’s fat reserves for building her baby’s brain explains why women lose weight during breastfeeding. According to Lassek, "Lactating women may lose a pound of fat a month."
Corroborating Lassek's statements, David Bainbridge, a reproductive biologist at Cambridge University and author of the book "Curvology: The Origins and Power of Female Body Shape," said recent studies have yielded evidence that the breast milk of women who have more fat reserves in the thighs, hips and bottom has higher levels of the brain-building lipids.
Bainbridge said, "The brain-building breast-milk lipids 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."
Previous studies have also found that pear-shaped women who store more fat in the lower parts tend to have lower blood cholesterol levels and metabolize sugar more efficiently. They are, therefore, less likely to develop heart diseases and diabetes.
While some are saying this could be good news for Kim Kardashian’s baby, North West, others are quick to remind us that part of what Kardashian parades as her butt is widely believed to be artificial implants.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/sc ... dren/article/424339 |
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发表于 2015-3-8 18:30:12
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