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Waist-to-hip ratio and gender differences

Waist-to-hip ratio and gender differences

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Waist-to-hip ratio and gender differences -

And, it can be hard to get an accurate measurement of your hips. WHR can also be harder to interpret than waist circumference — another measurement of abdominal obesity.

You might have a high WHR because you carry more weight in your abdomen. Or, you might simply have extra muscle around your hips from working out. WHR is also not recommended for use in children.

Waist-to-hip-ratio is a quick and easy way to check how much weight you carry around your middle. Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available. VIEW ALL HISTORY.

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Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. What Is the Waist-to-Hip Ratio? Medically reviewed by Angela M. Bell, MD, FACP — By Stephanie Watson and Rachel Nall, MSN, CRNA — Updated on February 2, Calculate Advantages of WHR Disadvantages of WHR Takeaway The waist-to-hip ratio WHR calculation is one way your doctor can see if excess weight is putting your health at risk.

Health risk Women Men low 0. Ways to calculate your waist-to-hip ratio. What are the advantages of using this method? What are the disadvantages of using this method? How we reviewed this article: Sources. There exist some studies investigating the associations among fat distribution, reproduction and aging 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , However, to the best of our knowledge, no prior study investigated this issue in traditional societies.

Thus, it has yet to be documented across cultures that WHR increases with parity in natural fertility, indigenous, more energy constrained populations facing greater trade-offs in energy allocation than do modern societies.

Another important reason for considering such populations is that they better approximate reproductive and infectious disease conditions under which the adaptations in question arose. Finally, as distribution of fat might greatly vary between populations 45 , 46 , these data from indigenous populations enable testing the universality of results obtained by Lassek and Gaulin or Wells and colleagues 21 , 36 , 41 , Hence, in the present study we investigated the relationship between WHRs and number of children in traditional populations of women from around the world.

The study was conducted according to the principles expressed in the Declaration of Helsinki. The study protocol and consent procedure received ethical approval from the Institutional Review Board IRB of the University of Wroclaw Wroclaw, Poland and Moscow State University Moscow, Russia.

Our methods were carried out in accordance with the approved guidelines. All subjects gave their informed written consent prior to participation. This was done in a form of their signature if they were able to write, or as a print of their finger. It was deemed appropriate given the low literacy rates among traditional societies and this procedure was specifically approved by the Ethical Boards.

The age was mostly self-reported and when the participants did not know it, the researchers helped them estimate it based on various events from the past.

The data on age of the Tsimane were taken from TAPS database 47 , Below, we present a short description of each society. The Hadza are a hunter-gatherer society living in Tanzania, Africa. They number approximately — individuals and live in mobile camps, each comprising 30 people on average.

This society has been extensively described in the literature see e. Women typically marry between the ages of 17 and 18 years, whereas men marry around the age of Marriages are typically not arranged, and women typically choose their partners.

Because divorce is common, serial monogamy is the best way to characterize the mating system They are concentrated mainly in the Arusha, Dodoma, Singida, and Shinyanga regions. The population is estimated to be about 87, The Datoga are semi-nomadic pastoralists 55 , polygynous and patrilocal. Eighty five percent of women are in polygynous marriages 56 , Marriage is traditionally arranged by parents, but men frequently arrange their second and later marriages according to personal preferences Isanzu Ihanzu are traditional Buntu-speaking agro-pastoralists, living in the Singida region of North-Central Tanzania.

Their population size is about 30, The Isanzu are settled in 18 villages in the Mkalama District 58 , The Isanzu are divided into 12 exogamous non-localized matri-clans. They are traditionally polygynous. Gender relations are asymmetrical, with women being dependent on men for resources throughout their lives, and usually without social power outside of the household Their population of around 8, is distributed throughout approximately villages, most of which are located in the area of Beni in northern Bolivia.

This tribe has been extensively described in the literature e. Traditionally, marriage is arranged by parents The Ob-Ugric people Khanty and Mansi are settled on the territory of Russia in Western Siberia and occupy the basins of the Ob and the Irtysh rivers, including their tributaries.

According to a census conducted in , the Ob-Ugric people number just over 43 thousand Khanty—31, and Mansi—12, Many of them are still practicing traditional occupations, such as fishing, hunting, and reindeer herding, and gathering Despite the fact that currently most of the Ob-Ugric people live in villages, they still practice nomadic reindeer herding.

They are patrilineal; marriages are patrilocal and basically monogamous Divorces are mainly initiated by women The Minahasans are inhabitants of Sulawesi. They are a group with the oldest democracy and federal nation among the other Indonesian and Asian tribes due to their old tribal united government Ancient Minahasa society was both competitive and egalitarian.

Minahasa culture does not show any particular discrimination against women Social status is mainly dependent on personal achievements and the expression of personal virtues The Minahasans and Sangirese people of Northern Sulawesi are mainly monogamous.

They practice agriculture and are known for matri-focal social organization and widespread practice of child adoption and transfer between households The studies among the Hadza and Datoga were conducted in the Lake Eyasi region of Tanzania, Africa, between and , and data on the Isanzu were collected in in the Mkalama District of the Singida Region, North-Central Tanzania.

Data on the Ob Ugric people were collected in in Khanty-Mansiisk and in the villages of Berezovsky and the Belojarsky Regions of the Khanty-Mansijsky Autonomous District in Russia.

Data from the Minahasans and Sangirese were collected in on the Sulawesi and Sangir Islands in Indonesia. In all other populations, waist circumference was measured with measuring tape horizontally at the narrowest part of the abdominal region.

If the narrowest part of the abdominal region was not clearly distinguishable, the waist was measured still horizontally midway between the 10th rib and the crest of the pelvic bone All people were measured in light clothes, like a clothing called kanga in the case of African groups.

When a participant wore heavy clothes e. BMI was measured in a standard way, as weight measured with scales divided by height measured with an anthropometer squared. All women who declared being pregnant at the time of investigation were excluded from participation.

Similar to previous research 73 , the number of children was self-reported. We measured body-mass index BMI , waist-to-hip ratio WHR and number of children among women in each study population. Table 1 presents descriptive statistics and intercorrelations between all variables in the total sample.

Table 2 presents means and standard deviations of the estimated WHR in each population depending on the number of children. For the robustness check, all analyses presented below were also performed with a raw number of children as a predictor.

To test whether direction and strength of the effect were similar across populations, we analyzed this relationship with the use of multilevel regressions. As a subsample of Indonesians from Sulawesi was quite small in comparison with other populations, in this study we repeated our multilevel regression analyses without and with Indonesians.

As the pattern of results was almost exactly the same, we decided to focus on estimates obtained on the entire sample including Indonesians. Before analysis, we standardized z -scored the dependent variable WHR , the predictor the log-transformed number of children , and control variables: BMI and age in a way that all of our individual level variables had a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1 see: ref.

We tested three models: 1 a random intercept model, allowing for differences in the intercept, but assuming the same slope across populations, 2 a random slope model, allowing for different slopes, but assuming the same intercept across populations, and 3 a random intercept and random slope model, allowing both intercepts and slopes to vary among populations.

Hence, we focused on the more parsimonious, random intercept model see Table 3. Importantly, neither the variance of the intercept, nor the slope was significant, indicating that the effect of the number of children on WHR was culturally stable.

More specifically, these results showed that the intercept of the WHR was similar across populations, but even more importantly — that slopes in these populations did not differ significantly. This allows us to conclude that this effect is stable across the studied populations.

In terms of incremental change of the WHR related to each child, the estimated WHR of females with no children controlling in the ANOVA for age, BMI and ethnicity was 0. Even if weak in terms of the effect size, this relationship was statistically significant and linear Fig.

The Relationship between the Number of Children and the WHR BMI, age and ethnicity are partialled-out. To perform a robustness check of our results, we provided a two-step procedure.

First, we repeated our analyses on a restricted sample, first excluding from the analyses all females who were potentially postmenopausal, i. All relationships we have previously observed were replicated.

The observed effect was statistically significant while controlling BMIs and WHRs that differed across participating societies and generally increased with age in each study population.

Our findings indicate that the positive WHR-parity relationship is strongly culturally stable - we observed this association in populations from different continents Africa, Eurasia and South America , and among nomadic hunter-gatherers, pastoralists and farmers alike.

In summary, in line with previous studies conducted among developed societies 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , we argue that the positive association between WHR and number of children may be general for humans.

In order to explore the observed WHR-parity association further, we investigated it among women in reproductive age that had at least one child. WHRs of nulliparous and older women may differ from regular WHRs for reasons other than number of births, and this might influence the effect of number of births on WHR.

For example, much of the high WHR of 50—70 year old women may be due to factors other than number of offspring, like obesity or health problems, and yet they would have the most offspring and age, and hence bias the results of the analysis.

The populations participating in our research differed from one another. However, even when the population factor was included in the analysis, the number of children remained a significant predictor of WHR for the total sample while controlling for the age and BMI of women.

Below, we propose several explanations as to why number of births, associated with lower WHR, can be important for female mate value. First, as discussed in the Introduction, fewer children mean higher level of LPUFAs that support fetal brain development Second, following 2 , 3 , 75 , limited reproductive potential, and limited windows of female fertile ovulatory cycles in natural fertility populations mean that each child born is probably 1 of 7 or less children a man can sire with the woman in total if he mates with her long-term.

Hence, it can be predicted that the preference for a low WHR results from male preference for women at peak residual reproductive value, just prior to first probably fertile ovulatory cycle and with no previous children.

This phenomenon seems to operate in modern human societies, wherein suspected nonpaternity is one of the most common reasons of refusals to pay child support among American men Although there are certain adaptations men have for differential parental solicitude e.

Low relative WHR is one of them. The clear association between female age and WHR that we observed in our research might be also very important in the male mate choice.

In almost all participating societies, the youngest women had the lowest WHR Table 1. Human mate selection has been widely investigated over the past several decades e. Thus, men may need to be sensitive to certain indirect cues to potential reproductive value, like female age.

Our findings might suggest that preferences for women with lower WHRs can be beneficial in small-scales societies also because WHR may be a cue to younger age across such populations Table 1. On the other hand, it is important to note that the mean WHR within an age cohort can vary significantly across human populations Thus, age-WHR associations may be reliable mainly at the within-population level.

Overall, the WHR-related issues discussed above WHR as a marker of fertility, parity history, health, etc. suggest that preferences for certain values of this body parameter should be culturally universal. Indeed, most studies show preferences for relatively low WHR within respective populations 7—12; but see: refs 13 , It needs to be noted that the current study has some limitations.

First, our design was cross-sectional while it would be more accurate to assess the effect each childbirth has on WHR in a longitudinal study.

Second, we compared the data collected by several researchers in a few cultures. Nevertheless, our research comprise data collected among hundreds of women from several traditional societies, which has an undeniable value; collecting such data would be almost impossible in more a complex, longitudinal design involving only one researcher.

Finally, the participating societies differed in sample size and number of nulliparous women. For example, large size of nulliparous Ob Ugric women and their low WHR could potentially affect our results.

However, as presented in the results section, even after exclusion of all females without children from all analyses the number of children remains a significant predictor of WHR in the whole sample. In summary, we demonstrated a culturally stable, significant relationship between number of children and WHR among women, controlling for BMI and age.

Along with selection of younger and healthier women, preferences for low WHRs may enable men to mate with women of highest possible reproductive potential. These findings increase our understanding of sexual preferences in traditional, small-scale societies that approximate reproductive and infectious disease conditions under which the evolutionary adaptations arose.

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Gnder you for visiting nature. You are using Mind-body energy enhancers browser version with Cholesterol-lowering solutions support for Rahio. To bender the best experience, we Wait-to-hip you genderr a more up to Wais-to-hip browser or difffrences off compatibility Waist measurement and obesity prevention in Internet Explorer. In the meantime, Mind-body energy enhancers ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. 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. Waist-to-hip ratio and gender differences

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