[READ] Your imperfect body has biological advantages

The film world has not helped the female specie much when it comes to how they feel about their bodies.

By the time you look at the likes of Beyoncé, Rihanna, Angelina Jolie, etc., the tendency is to feel ungraceful about your own body, never mind that most screen images are hardly real; what with the fact that seeing these ‘perfect’ women without the make-up on is near-impossible, hence people’s inability to rightly judge their true beauty.

Again, considering the unfettered access these screen goddesses have to cosmetic surgeries that give some of them the perfect looks, it’s almost unwise to compare them to mere mortals that most of us are.

Researchers say generally, whether it’s occasional or constant, nearly every woman struggles with the way she feels about her body.

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A study by a group of researchers at Cornell University, USA, found that 87 per cent of normal-weight women wish they were a size smaller. Indeed, a professor of psychology at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Laurie Mintz, says, “The vast majority of women have what’s called normative discontent, that is, dissatisfaction with the size and/or shape of their bodies, even if it’s just a wish for flatter abdomen or a rounder butt.”

Another research published in the journal, The New School Psychology Bulletin, notes that tummy, hips and thighs top women’s most-hated list — whether they’re 25 or 65.

Yet, scientists who specialise in evolution contend that thicker hips and thighs contain omega-3 fatty acids, which can pass from a pregnant woman’s bloodstream to her placenta, thus nourishing babies’ brains right from the womb effortlessly.

While this is not to aver that if your thighs are slender, you can’t still make your child smarter, the gladdening news here is that there are evolutionary advantages to having thunder thighs, after all.

And if you have certain misgivings about your body fat, be consoled by this new research: A  study by Dr. William D. Lassek of the Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, USA; and Steven J.C. Gaulin of the Department of Anthropology, University of California at Santa Barbara, USA, relates that lower-body fat has positive effects on the supply of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids that are essential for neurodevelopment.

The researchers explain that waist-hip ratio, which “serves as a useful proxy for the ratio of upper-body fat to lower-body fat,” should predict cognitive ability in women and their offspring.

Psychologists say cognitive abilities are the brain-based skills we need to carry out any task, from the simplest to the most complex. And how happy it feels to know that your “full” hips and thighs actually impact positively, not just on your own mental wellbeing but also on that of your unborn baby!

Again, how does it feel to learn that some body fat is actually normal and necessary to store energy, keep skin and nerves functioning, and make pregnancy possible? Endocrinologists warn that being excessively thin or overweight can impair a woman’s fertility. Consequently, you are advised to have an ideal body weight — which hovers between the two extremes — in order to sustain your chances of having babies if you desire one.

Generally — albeit, wrongly — ‘meaty’ muscles are usually mistaken for body fat. Yet, scientists say having healthy muscle mass is preferable to having excessive body fat, as muscle mass helps protect the body, while at the same time, supplying a healthy resource for energy storage.

And as if to make fretful women feel good about their bodies, a research published in the January edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association concludes that the flab can actually add a few years to your life on earth.

The study’s lead author/senior research scientist at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Ms. Katherine Flegal, notes that the longest lived among us aren’t necessarily those who are of normal weight.

Commenting on the issues raised by the research, physicians agree that it’s not just the fat that comes with weight gain, but the type of fat, particularly fat that accumulates around the belly, that might be more life-threatening.

While people who have normal body weights are not being advised to eat their way to obesity, doctors do say that having small amounts of excess fat may provide the needed energy reserves to fight off certain illnesses and also offer beneficial effects for recovering from some types of traumatic injuries.

Beyond fat and fatness, women also obsess over the shape and firmness of their breasts. No doubt, flabby breasts are a turn-off; but unless you undergo boobs ops at some time in your life — especially as your age climbs up — you are likely to have some droops, which may be accentuated by the number of babies you’ve breastfed.

However, as a mother, you may not care much about the aesthetic beauty of the breasts when you realise that prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding makes kids smarter.

Dr. Michael Kramer, a Professor of Paediatrics, Epidemiology & Biostatistics in the McGill University Faculty of Medicine who led investigators in the study of 14,000 children over a 6.5-year period, reports that though breastfeeding bestows many benefits, including immunity defense and disease protection, “until recently, we didn’t know whether breastfeeding influences intelligence, or if breastfed kids tested better because of other factors.”

Based on the study, which scientists say is the largest ever in analysing the influence of breastfeeding on a child’s intelligent quotient, Kramer reveals that breastfeeding raises children’s IQs and improves their academic performance.

So, instead of obsessing over your imperfect body, thank your stars — for once!

-Solaade Ayo-Aderele/Punch

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