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Hourglass Women Smarter (-???); Make Smarter Babies
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According to a study by the University of Pittsburgh and UC Santa Barbara on about 16,000 women, those with a lower waist to hip ratio scored better on cognitive tests and so did their children.
For some reason the research suggests the female body tends to concentrate the most brain-friendly fats, -Omega 3s-, around the hips and thighs. This was opposed to Omega 6s which are mostly stored around the waist and are less beneficial to brain function.
Unfortunately, for the 'Apple'-shaped women out there, the study definitely found the bias toward Omega 6s in that shape to have negative consequences. The 'Ruler'-shapes did not experience as much of a negative effect, as the reduction in both Omegas was ~equal.
-> SO: Is this purely Genetic or partially Dietary? Does it have more to do with bone structure & musculature than pure fat stores? (as there was no mention of BF%) Does this mean that if women consume more Omega 3s over time, they'll store more of it around their hips and thighs and thus be smarter and have smarter children? Can women change their body shape -at least in part- by completely switching the type of fats they consume?
The study offers no help there; just the correlation. -Though making sure you get a regular healthy dose of Omega 3s probably can't hurt.
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Posted by Will on 12/30/07 | Comments (0) | Email to a friend |
