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Waist-to-hip ratio versus body mass index as predictors of fitness in women

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Abstract

The claim that men prefer women with low waist-to-hip ratios (WHR) has been vigorously disputed. We examine self-report data from 359 primiparous Polish women (with normal singleton births and healthy infants) and show that WHR correlates with at least one component of a woman’s biological fitness (her first child’s birth weight, a variable that significantly affects infant survival rates). However, a woman’s Body Mass Index (BMI) is a better predictor of her child’s neonatal weight in small-bodied women (<54 kg). The failure to find a preference for low WHR in some traditional populations may thus be a consequence of the fact that, even in western populations, body mass is a better predictor of fitness in those cases characterized by low maternal body weight.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Wrocław, u. Kuznicza 35, 50-138, Wrocław, Poland

    B. Pawłowski

  2. University of Liverpool, UK

    R. I. M. Dunbar

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  1. B. Pawłowski
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  2. R. I. M. Dunbar
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Correspondence to B. Pawłowski.

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Boguslaw Pawłowski Ph.D., D.Sc., is a researcher and lecturer in biological anthropology at the University of Wrocław, Poland. His research interests focus on mechanisms of human evolution (with special attention to the evolution of subcutaneous fat tissue distribution) and human mate choice.

Robin Dunbar Ph.D., FBA is British Academy Research Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Liverpool, England, and co-Director of the British Academy Centenary Research Project. His research interests focus on the evolutionary and environmental determinants of social and reproductive strategies, with particular references to humans, nonhuman primates, and ungulates.

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Pawłowski, B., Dunbar, R.I.M. Waist-to-hip ratio versus body mass index as predictors of fitness in women. Hum Nat 16, 164–177 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-005-1002-7

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