Body shape may be used as a sign for the estimated number of children. The researchers from Durham University claim that tall and slim women tend to have more children. Because the woman of this stature has health care and better nutrition.
The study was conducted in two communities of women in The Gambia, Africa, but the researchers say the results can also be applied throughout the world.
Data collected by the UK Medical Research Council between 1956 and 2010. The data is actually to provide information about the population in two Gambian villages. Population data is also equipped with height and weight.
During this period, residents of both communities experienced significant demographic shifts. It happened because of high mortality rates and fertility rates plummeted.
This situation changed due to health care and better nutrition. The researchers found that as the birth rate decline, women height and weight change as well.
They said initially that more women have a shorter body and fat, but then there was a shift that brings the number of women tall and more slender. This affected their ability to be able to have more children.
The researchers also said that low levels of mortality in Western countries have hindered natural selection, so stop human evolution. Dr Ian Rickard, a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology said the decline in the death rate does not make evolution stopped, but changed.
However, a study published in the journal Current Biology has not been able to explain this trend. The researchers concluded only better health care to make tall and slender women are more likely to reproduce.
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