Waist-to hip ratio across cultures: trade-offs between androgen-and estrogen-dependent traits

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Publication Type Journal Article
School or College College of Social & Behavioral Science
Department Anthropology
Creator Cashdan, Elizabeth A.
Title Waist-to hip ratio across cultures: trade-offs between androgen-and estrogen-dependent traits
Date 2008
Description A gynoid pattern of fat distribution, with small waist and large hips (low waist-to-hip ratio, or WHR) holds significant fitness benefits for women: women with a low WHR of about 0.7 are more fecund, are less prone to chronic disease, and (in most cultures) are considered more attractive. Why, then, do nearly all women have a WHR higher than this putative optimum? Is the marked variation in this trait adaptive? This paper first documents the conundrum by showing that female WHR, especially in non-Western populations, is higher than the putative optimum even among samples that are young, lean, and dependent on traditional diets.
Type Text
Publisher University of Chicago Press
Volume 49
Issue 6
First Page 1099
Last Page 1107
Subject Fertility; Optimum; Fecundity
Language eng
Bibliographic Citation Cashdan, E. A. (2008). Waist-to hip ratio across cultures: trade-offs between androgen-and estrogen-dependent traits. Current Anthropology, 49(6), 1099-107.
Rights Management (c) University of Chicago Press, The following article can be found at http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/doSearch?searchText=waist+to+hip&startPage=0&sortBy=relevancy&target=&filter=all&displaySummary=false&x=8&y=5
Format Medium application/pdf
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Identifier ir-main,5875
ARK ark:/87278/s6rb7nqq
Setname ir_uspace
ID 702843
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6rb7nqq
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