Pear Shaped Women, Hips & Longevity

Women with big hips live longer

A study looking at the hip sizes of around 1,400 women found that those with a larger circumfrance were less likely to suffer from diabetes and heart disease. The hip measurements of Swedish women aged 38 to 60 were taken between 1968 and 1969 and the subjects were followed up 24 years later. The research, which will be revealed at a European conference on obesity in Vienna this week, found that women with a hip size greater than 41in were likely to live longer.

Prof Lauren Lissner, of the Centre for Nutritional Epidemiology at Goteborg University in Sweden, said: “With everything else remaining constant, a lower fat distribution does seem to be beneficial. The women we looked at were all of average weight, between 60kg and 65kg [9st 6lb and 10st 3lb], with a body mass index of between 20 and 25.

“A simplification of our result is that if two women had the same body mass index – weight divided by height squared – the one with the larger hips is better off.” Prof Lissner stressed that none of the women in the study had been obese and that there was an obvious correlation between very large hips and heart disease.