Waist-to-hip ratio, body-mass index, age and number of children in seven traditional societies

Abstract

It has been suggested that the preference for low WHRs evolved because low WHR provided a cue to female reproductive status and health, and therefore to her reproductive value. The present study aimed to test whether WHR might indeed be a reliable cue to female reproductive history (with lower WHRs indicating lower number of children). Previous studies showed such a relationship for modern and industrialized populations, but it has not been investigated in natural fertility, indigenous, more energy constrained populations facing greater trade-offs in energy allocation than do modern societies. Our sample comprised 925 women aged 13 to 95 years from seven non-industrial societies including tribes from Sub-Saharan Africa (Hadza, Datoga, and Isanzu), Western Siberia (Ob Ugric people: Khanty and Mansi), South America (Tsimane) and South Asia (Minahasans and Sangirese). We demonstrated a culturally stable, significant relationship between number of children and WHR among women, controlling for BMI and age. Based on these data, we suggest that WHR is a reliable cue to female reproductive history, and we discuss our results in the context of previous studies indicating usefulness of WHR as an indicator of health and fertility.

Women's attractiveness is linked to expected age at menopause

“…We collected three physical features hypothesized to be linked to women's immediate fertility: the waist‐to‐hip ratio (the ratio between body circumference at the waist and the hips or WHR, Singh, ; Jasienska et al ., ; Singh & Randall, ; Lassek & Gaulin, ; Mondragón‐Ceballos et al ., ; Butovskaya et al ., ; but see Nenko & Jasienska, ), the fundamental frequency of the voice (F0, Harries et al ., ; Abitbol et al ., ; Feinberg, ; Evans et al ., ; Abend et al ., ) and the facial femininity (Farkas, ; Johnston & Franklin, ; Perrett et al ., ; Fink & Neave, ; Law Smith et al ., ; Little et al ., ; Pfluger et al ., ; Jones, ). The WHR was measured in the laboratory by the investigator.…”

“…Cues of immediate fertility can be found in body shape, voice pitch or facial features; in fact, all traits linked to sexual maturity, age and parity or substantially influenced by sex hormones (which are factors influencing immediate fertility) have the potential to influence physical attractiveness (see, e.g. Symons, ; Henss, ; Singh, ; Jasienska et al ., ; Feinberg et al ., ; Law Smith et al ., ; Pipitone & Gallup, ; Singh et al ., ; Little et al ., ; Puts et al ., , ; Pfluger et al ., ; Jones, ; Mondragón‐Ceballos et al ., ; Sugiyama, ; Butovskaya et al ., but see Marcinkowska et al ., , for some modulations of these preferences). To increase their reproductive success, males should prefer females of the age at which age‐specific fertility peaks, at least for short‐term mates (Maestripieri et al ., ).…”

Evolutionary Theories and Men's Preferences for Women's Waist-to-Hip Ratio: Which Hypotheses Remain? A Systematic Review

“…Then, women's WHR increases from the peak of fertility (in the 20's). This general age pattern is observed in many countries, including non-western and non-industrial populations (Rimm et al, 1988; Leibel et al, 1989; Seidell et al, 1990; Beall and Goldstein, 1992; Ley et al, 1992; Björntorp, 1993; Casey et al, 1994; Sugiyama, 2004; Bohler et al, 2010; Brooks et al, 2010; Bacopoulou et al, 2015; Butovskaya et al, 2017). Finally, WHR might also be a cue of menopause (end of reproductive age, independently of chronological age; Kirschner and Samojlik, 1991; Bjorkelund et al, 1996; Tchernof and Poehlman, 1998), but several other studies find no effect of menopausal status on WHR (Lanska et al, 1985; Tonkelaar et al, 1989; Seidell et al, 1990; Troisi et al, 1995; Tchernof and Poehlman, 1998; Sugiyama, 2004).…”

“…There is evidence that WHR increases with the number of previous pregnancies (independently of age and BMI), due to an increase of waist circumference and/or a relative decrease in hip circumference (Kaye et al, 1990; Smith et al, 1994; Troisi et al, 1995; Bjorkelund et al, 1996; Rodrigues and Costa, 2001; Lassek and Gaulin, 2006; Wells et al, 2010, 2011; Butovskaya et al, 2017). This change in body shape (sometimes referred to as (covert) maternal depletion) is due to the mobilization of fat from the lower parts of the body to meet the needs of the developing child (as well as looser abdominal muscles).…”

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“…Бутовская с коллегами демонстрирует наличия ряд общих закономерностей (определяемых ею как эволюционно универсальные), равно как и культурно-специфических предпочтений (связанных с потребностью, адаптироваться к требованиям культуры и экономики (Бутовская 2011а,б; Бутовская, Буркова 2011; Бутовская и др. 2012, 2014; Бутовская, Мезенцева 2018; Sorokowski, Butovskaya 2012;Butovskaya et al 2013Butovskaya et al , 2015Sorokowski et al 2015Sorokowski et al , 2017Fink et al 2017Fink et al , 2019Sorokowska et al 2018). В настоящее время научная группа М.Л.…”