Physical attractiveness as a phenotypic marker of health: an assessment using a nationally representative sample of American adults

Physical attractiveness as a phenotypic marker of health: an assessment using a nationally representative sample of American adults
Joseph L. Nedelec, Kevin M. Beaver (Nov 2014)

Evolution & Human Behavior | pdf - via JayMan |

Abstract

Evolutionary explanations regarding the differential preference for particular traits hold that preferences arose due to traits' association with increased potential for reproductive fitness. Assessments of physical attractiveness have been shown to be related to perceived and measured levels of health, an important fitness-related trait. Despite the robust association between physical attractiveness and health observed in the extant literature, a number of theoretical and methodological concerns remain. Specifically, the research in this area possesses a lack of specificity in terms of measures of health, a reliance on artificial social interactions in assessing physical attractiveness, and a relatively infrequent use of non-student samples and leaves unaddressed the confounding effects of raters of attractiveness. Using these concerns as a springboard, the current study employed data from the National Longitudinal Study for Adolescent Health (N ≈ 15,000; aged 25 to 34 years) to assess the relationship between physical attractiveness and various specific and overall measures of health. Logistic and OLS regression models illustrated a robust association between physical attractiveness and various measures of health, controlling for a variety of confounding factors. In sum, the more attractive a respondent was rated, the less likely he or she was to report being diagnosed with a wide range of chronic diseases and neuropsychological disorders. Importantly, this finding was observed for both sexes. These analyses provide further support for physical attractiveness as a phenotypic marker of health. The findings are discussed in reference to evolutionary theory, and the limitations of the study and future research suggestions are also addressed.

New Book: Best Supplements for Men's Health, Strength, and Virility

Best Supplements for Men's Health, Strength, and Virility >Amazon<
P. D. Mangan (2014)

-> http://mangans.blogspot.com/2014/09/my-new-ebook-best-supplements-for-mens.htm

Perceived facial adiposity conveys information about women’s health

Perceived facial adiposity conveys information about women’s health (full download)
Rowan M. Tinlin, Christopher D. Watkins, Lisa L. M. Welling, Lisa M. DeBruine, Emad A. S. Al-Dujaili, and Benedict C. Jones (2012)


Abstract

Although several prominent theories of human facial attractiveness propose that some facial characteristics convey information about people’s health, empirical evidence for this claim is somewhat mixed. While most previous research into this issue has focused on facial characteristics such as symmetry, averageness, and sexual dimorphism, a recent study reported that ratings of facial adiposity (i.e., perceptions of fatness in the face) were positively correlated with indices of poor physical condition in a sample of young adults (i.e., reported past health problems and measures of cardiovascular fitness). These findings are noteworthy, since they suggest that perceived adiposity is a potentially important facial cue of health that has been overlooked by much of the previous work in this area. Here, we show that ratings of young adult women’s facial adiposity are (1) better predicted by their body weight than by their body shape (Studies 1 and 2), (2) correlated with a composite measure of their physical and psychological condition (Study 2), and (3) negatively correlated with their trait (i.e., average) salivary progesterone levels (Study 3). Together, these findings present further evidence that perceived facial adiposity, or a correlate thereof, conveys potentially important information about women’s actual health.

Some Bodily and Medical Correlates of Mathematical Giftedness and Commensurate Levels of Socioeconomic Status

Some Bodily and Medical Correlates of Mathematical Giftedness and Commensurate Levels of Socioeconomic Status
D. Lubinski & L. D. Humphreys (1992)
https://my.vanderbilt.edu/smpy/files/2013/02/CorrelatesOfMath.pdf


Abstract

Four groups of 10th-grade students were selected from the upper tails of four distributions based on a stratified random sample of the nation's high schools (N = 95,650): Two groups consisted of mathematically gifted subjects (boys n = 497, girls n = 508); the remaining two groups comprised environmentally privileged students (boys n = 647, girls n = 485). The former represented approximately the top 1% on a standard measure of quantitative ability, whereas the latter represented approximately the upper 1% of a conventional SES index. These four gifted/privileged groups were then compared to one another, by gender, and to their gender equivalent normative cohorts on 43 indices of medical and physical well-being. Although higher levels of physical health are found in both gifted and privileged groups (relative to the norm), medical and physical well-being appears to be more highly associated with mathematical giftedness than extreme levels of socioeconomic privilege. To the extent that these findings may be linked to the construct general intelligence, they confirm and extend the view that the nomothetic span (network of correlates) of general intelligence permeates a variety of important and valued nonintellectual domains (cf. Brand, 1987).

IQ and somatic health in late adolescence

IQ and somatic health in late adolescence
Alma Sörberg, Peter Allebeck, Tomas Hemmingsson
Intelligence (May - June 2014)


Highlights

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IQ is associated with somatic health and early death later in life.

•

Less is known about the relationship between IQ and somatic health in youth.

•

IQ was associated with a range of diagnoses/health indicators already in youth.

•

Lower IQ was mostly associated with higher risk for diagnoses/poor health indicators.

•

The associations were not explained by differences in socioeconomic background.

Abstract

Intelligence quotient (IQ) is associated with mental health in youth onwards, as well as somatic health and longevity later in life. However, little is known about the association with somatic health in youth. We aimed to investigate the cross-sectional association between IQ and a range of somatic diagnoses and health indicators in late adolescence. In a cohort comprising 49 321 Swedish men, IQ test performance and health status were recorded at conscription in 1969–70, at ages 18–20. Information on socioeconomic factors in childhood was obtained from the national census. Odds ratios (ORs) were estimated by logistic regression. With adjustment for socioeconomic background, each step decrease in IQ test performance on a nine-point scale was associated with an increased OR for the following somatic diagnoses: impaired hearing (1.14, 1.12–1.16), endocrine disorders (1.13, 1.10–1.17), symptoms and ill-defined conditions (1.11, 1.08–1.14), back pain (1.10, 1.08–1.12), digestive system diseases (1.08, 1.05–1.10) and injuries (1.02, 1.00–1.05); and a decreased OR for hayfever (0.87, 0.85–0.90) and refractive errors (0.87, 0.86–0.88). IQ was also associated with increased ORs for low physical capacity (1.12, 1.10–1.14), signs of inflammation (1.07, 1.06–1.09) and low self-rated health (1.03, 1.02–1.05). Several diagnoses were not associated with IQ. In conclusion, lower IQ at conscription was associated with a higher risk for several diagnoses and indicators of poor health, but the risk was decreased for a few of the diagnoses. The mechanisms underlying the associations presumably differ. However, socioeconomic factors in childhood could not explain the associations.

New Book: Smash Chronic Fatigue - A Concise, Science-Based Guide to Help Your Body Heal, and Banish Fatigue Forever

Smash Chronic Fatigue - A Concise, Science-Based Guide to Help Your Body Heal, and Banish Fatigue Forever
P. D. Mangan (2014)

Form of day care and respiratory infections among Finnish children.

Form of day care and respiratory infections among Finnish children.
Louhiala PJ, Jaakkola N, Ruotsalainen R, and Jaakkola JJ; 1995
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1615809/


Abstract

The relationship between respiratory infectious diseases and form of day care was assessed in a retrospective cohort study of 2568 randomly selected children aged 1 through 7 years in Espoo, Finland. Day-care center children had an increased risk for the common cold, acute otitis media, and pneumonia. The risk concentrated in 1-year-old children, for whom the adjusted relative risks (incidence density ratios) for the common cold, otitis media, and pneumonia were 1.69 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.43, 2.01), 1.99 (95% CI = 1.57, 2.52), and 9.69 (95% CI = 2.31, 40.55), respectively. Among 1-year-old children, the proportion of infections attributable to care at day-care centers were 41% (95% CI = 30, 50) for colds, 50% (95% CI = 36, 60) for otitis media, and 85% (95% CI = 57, 98) for pneumonia. The results provide evidence that care in day-care centers is a determinant of acute respiratory infections in children under 2, whereas family day care does not essentially increase risk.

Fatherhood & Health:

Fatherhood - Evolution and Human Paternal Behavior
P B Gray & K G Anderson; 2012

Fatherhood appears to have both protective and deleterious impacts on men's health. The parenting of young children tends to negatively impact marital quality, meaning that men lose some of the beneficial effects of affiliative pair-bonds. Male mental health may suffer, especially if his partner is also struggling with mental health difficulties. Sleep and sexual challenges may exacerbate these difficulties. Young children, particularly those in daycare, can also serve as disease vectors (for example, Hillis et al. 1992), presenting a father with greater exposure to transmissible diseases. The outcome of these types of issues is that fathers of young children may have compromised health.

Yet as those children age, men's health may rebound. The strains of caring for young children wane. Those children may provide social and material support to aging parents. Perhaps an older father, living somewhere without a Social Security check to cash, is supported partly by the sons or daughters he raised to adulthood. Put all of these health and fatherhood variables together, and maybe observations like the following make sense. As shown in a U.S. study of approximately five thousand adults, the effects of fatherhood altered across a man's life and his children's ages (see E. E. Bartlett 2004). In this large U.S. study, among married men aged forty years or younger, 8.9% of fathers but only 1.1% of married men without children rated their health as fair or poor. In the same study, among married men aged forty-one to sixty-four, 16.5% of married fathers with children but 22.7% of married men without children rated their health as fair or poor. Similarly, in an Australian study, fathers of preschool-aged children reported worse health than fathers did of older children (Hewitt, Baxter, and Western 2006). These data suggests that earlier in life fatherhood may be a drain on a man's health, but that same relationship may have later, beneficial effects. This pattern appears to be the overarching perspective on fatherhood and health.

[This excerpt doesn't seem to be based on very hard data, but I think it makes some interesting points.]

Does a fitness factor contribute to the association between intelligence and health outcomes? Evidence from medical abnormality counts among 3654 US Veterans

Does a fitness factor contribute to the association between intelligence and health outcomes? Evidence from medical abnormality counts among 3654 US Veterans
Rosalind Arden , Linda S. Gottfredson, and Geoffrey Miller; 2009


Abstract

We suggest that an over-arching ‘fitness factor’ (an index of general genetic quality that predicts survival and reproductive success) partially explains the observed associations between health outcomes and intelligence. As a proof of concept, we tested this idea in a sample of 3654 US Vietnam veterans aged 31–49 who completed five cognitive tests (from which we extracted a g factor), a detailed medical examination, and self-reports concerning lifestyle health risks (such as smoking and drinking). As indices of physical health, we aggregated ‘abnormality counts’ of physician-assessed neurological, morphological, and physiological abnormalities in eight categories: cranial nerves, motor nerves, peripheral sensory nerves, reflexes, head, body, skin condition, and urine tests. Since each abnormality was rare, the abnormality counts showed highly skewed, Poisson-like distributions. The correlation matrix amongst these eight abnormality counts formed only a weak positive manifold and thus yielded only a weak common factor. However, Poisson regressions showed that intelligence was a significant positive predictor of six of the eight abnormality counts, even controlling for diverse lifestyle covariates (age, obesity, combat and toxin exposure owing to service in Vietnam, and use of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and hard drugs). These results give preliminary support for the notion of a superordinate fitness factor above intelligence and physical health, which could be further investigated with direct genetic assessments of mutation load across individuals.

Cues to Personality and Health in the Facial Appearance of Chimpanzees

Cues to Personality and Health in the Facial Appearance of Chimpanzees
Robin S S Kramer & Robert Ward
http://kar.kent.ac.uk/33327/1/Kramer%20%26%20Ward%202012.pdf


Abstract

Humans (Homo sapiens) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) can extract socially-relevant information from the static, non-expressive faces of conspecifics. In humans, the face is a valid signal of both personality and health. Recent evidence shows that, like humans, chimpanzee faces also contain personality information, and that humans can accurately judge aspects of chimpanzee personality relating to extraversion from the face alone (Kramer, King, and Ward, 2011). These findings suggest the hypothesis that humans and chimpanzees share a system of personality and facial morphology for signaling socially-relevant traits from the face. We sought to test this hypothesis using a new group of chimpanzees. In two studies, we found that chimpanzee faces contained health information, as well as information of characteristics relating to extraversion, emotional stability, and agreeableness, using average judgments from pairs of individual photographs. In a third study, information relating to extraversion and health was also present in composite images of individual chimpanzees. We therefore replicate and extend previous findings using a new group of chimpanzees and demonstrate two methods for minimizing the variability associated with individual photographs. Our findings support the hypothesis that chimpanzees and humans share a personality signaling system.

Female Facial Appearance and Health

Female Facial Appearance and Health
Alan W. Gray & Lynda G. Boothroyd; 2012
http://dro.dur.ac.uk/9374/1/9374.pdf


Abstract

The current study addressed whether rated femininity, attractiveness, and health in female faces are associated with numerous indices of self-reported health history (number of colds/stomach bugs/frequency of antibiotic use) in a sample of 105 females. It was predicted that all three rating variables would correlate negatively with bouts of illness (with the exception of rates of stomach infections), on the assumption that aspects of facial appearance signal mate quality. The results showed partial support for this prediction, in that there was a general trend for both facial femininity and attractiveness to correlate negatively with the reported number of colds in the preceding twelve months and with the frequency of antibiotic use in the last three years and the last twelve months. Rated facial femininity (as documented in September) was also associated with days of flu experienced in the period spanning the November-December months. However, rated health did not correlate with any of the health indices (albeit one marginal result with antibiotic use in the last twelve months). The results lend support to previous findings linking facial femininity to health and suggest that facial femininity may be linked to some aspects of disease resistance but not others.


[Mr. Mangan made an interesting comment on this article: Beauty isn't skin deep]

Cognitive ability and health-related behaviors during adolescence: A prospective study across five years

Cognitive ability and health-related behaviors during adolescence: A prospective study across five years
Joseph Ciarrochi et al., 2012


Abstract

Longitudinal research on the links between intelligence and health behaviors among adolescents is rare. We report longitudinal data in which we assessed the relationships between intelligence as assessed in Grade 7 and consequential health outcomes in Grade 11. The mean age of respondents (N= 420; 188 males, 232 females) was 12.30 years (SD= 0.49) in Grade 7and 16.17 years (SD= 0.45) in Grade 11. They completed standardized verbal and numerical ability tests and a measure of conscientiousness in Grade 7 and health related questions in Grade 11. Results indicated that higher intelligence was associated with a number of healthy behaviors including delay in onset of cigarette smoking. Intelligence significantly predicted less time spent watching TV, lower physical exercise, and lower consumption of stimulant drinks. Covariate analyses showed that general intelligence predicted health outcomes after controlling for conscientiousness, socio-economic status, and gender.

Body mass index across midlife and cognitive change in late life

Body mass index across midlife and cognitive change in late life
Dahl AK et al., 2012


Abstract
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Background: 

High midlife body mass index (BMI) has been linked to a greater risk of dementia in late life, but few have studied the effect of BMI across midlife on cognitive abilities and cognitive change in a dementia-free sample. 

Methods:

We investigated the association between BMI, measured twice across midlife (mean age 40 and 61 years, respectively), and cognitive change in four domains across two decades in the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging.

Results:

Latent growth curve models fitted to data from 657 non-demented participants showed that persons who were overweight/obese in early midlife had significantly lower cognitive performance across domains in late life and significantly steeper decline in perceptual speed, adjusting for cardio-metabolic factors. Both underweight and overweight/obesity in late midlife were associated with lower cognitive abilities in late life. However, the association between underweight and low cognitive abilities did not remain significant when weight decline between early and late midlife was controlled for.

Conclusion:

There is a negative effect on cognitive abilities later in life related to being overweight/obese across midlife. Moreover, weight decline across midlife rather than low weight in late midlife per se was associated with low cognitive abilities. Weight patterns across midlife may be prodromal markers of late life cognitive health.
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Body Mass Index, Change in Body Mass Index, and Survival in Old and Very Old Persons

Body Mass Index, Change in Body Mass Index, and Survival in Old and Very Old Persons

Dahl AK et al., 2013


Abstract

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OBJECTIVES:

To examine how body mass index (BMI) and change in BMI are associated with mortality in old (70-79) and very old (≥80) individuals.

DESIGN:

Pooled data from three multidisciplinary prospective population-based studies: OCTO-twin, Gender, and NONA.

SETTING:

Sweden.

PARTICIPANTS:

Eight hundred eighty-two individuals aged 70 to 95.

MEASUREMENTS:

BMI was calculated from measured height and weight as kg/m² . Information about survival status and time of death was obtained from the Swedish Civil Registration System.

RESULTS:

Mortality hazard was 20% lower for the overweight group than the normal-underweight group (relative risk (RR) = 0.80, P = .011), and the mortality hazard for the obese group did not differ significantly from that of the normal-underweight group (RR = 0.93, P = .603), independent of age, education, and multimorbidity. Furthermore, mortality hazard was 65% higher for the BMI loss group than for the BMI stable group (RR = 1.65, P < .001) and 53% higher for the BMI gain group than for the BMI stable group (RR = 1.53, P = .001). Age moderated the BMI change differences. That is, the higher mortality risks associated with BMI loss and gain were less severe in very old age.

CONCLUSION:

Old persons who were overweight had a lower mortality risk than old persons who were of normal weight, even after controlling for weight change and multimorbidity. Persons who increased or decreased in BMI had a greater mortality risk than those who had a stable BMI, particularly those aged 70 to 79. This study lends further support to the belief that the World Health Organization guidelines for BMI are overly restrictive in old age.

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Being Overweight in Midlife Is Associated With Lower Cognitive Ability and Steeper Cognitive Decline in Late Life

Being Overweight in Midlife Is Associated With Lower Cognitive Ability and Steeper Cognitive Decline in Late Life
Anna Dahl et al., 2010
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2796876/


Abstract

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Background

Although an increasing body of evidence links being overweight in midlife with an increased risk for dementia in late life, no studies have examined the association between being overweight in midlife and cognitive ability in late life. Our aim was to examine the association between being overweight in midlife as measured by body mass index (BMI) and cognitive ability assessed over time.

Methods

Participants in the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study Aging were derived from a population-based sample. The participants completed baseline surveys in 1963 or 1973 (mean age 41.6 years, range 25–63 years). The surveys included questions about height, weight, diseases, and lifestyle factors. Beginning in 1986, the same individuals were assessed on neuropsychological tests every 3 years (except in 1995) until 2002. During the study period, 781 individuals who were 50 years and older (60% women) had at least one complete neuropsychological assessment. A composite score of general cognitive ability was derived from the cognitive test battery for each measurement occasion.

Results

Latent growth curve models adjusted for twinness showed that persons with higher midlife BMI scores had significantly lower general cognitive ability and significantly steeper longitudinal decline than their thinner counterparts. The association did not change substantially when persons who developed dementia during the study period were excluded from the analysis.

Conclusions

Higher midlife BMI scores precede lower general cognitive ability and steeper cognitive decline in both men and women. The association does not seem to be mediated by an increased risk for dementia.

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Reduced Midlife Physical Functioning Among Never Married and Childless Men

Reduced Midlife Physical Functioning Among Never Married and Childless Men: Evidence from the 1946 British Birth Cohort Study

Jack M Guralnik et al., 2011

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3030619/

Abstract

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Background and Aims

Marital and parental role characteristics are important factors in both men and women’s health. Most studies to date have either focused on disease specific outcomes or summary measures of self-reported health rather than using functional tests of performance. The goal of this study is to investigate the extent to which marital and parental role characteristics are associated with midlife physical function.

Methods

Design

Prospective birth cohort study.

Setting

England, Scotland, and Wales.

Participants

1353 men and 1411 women followed up since their birth in 1946.

Main outcome measure

Handgrip strength, timed chair rising, and standing balance tests at age 53 years were used to calculate an aggregate physical performance score that ranged from 0 (poorest score) to 2.81.

Results

The mean physical performance score was 1.42 (SD 0.42) for men and 1.30 (SD 0.37) for women. By age 53 years, 11% of men and 8% of women had married but remained childless; 6% of men and 4% of women had never married. Never married ( 1.15; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.24) and childless married men ( 1.36; 95% CI: 1.30, 1.42) had significantly poorer physical performance score than married men with children ( 1.46; 95% CI: 1.43, 1.48). These relationships remained after adjustment for adult social class and employment status, own educational attainment and body mass index at 53 years (beta=−0.18, 95% CI: −0.27, −0.09 for never married and beta=−0.09, 95% CI: −0.16, −0.03 for childless married, compared with married men with children). Of those men who had never married 28% reported they were not working due to long-term health problems compared to 5% in both childless married men and married men with children. There were no marked differences in functional outcomes among women.

Conclusions

In this representative middle-aged population, unmarried and childless men faced greater risk of poor midlife physical function, even after adjustment for confounders. These findings suggest that for men, marriage and parenthood protect against functional decline in midlife. Alternatively, physical performance may be a marker of poorer health in earlier life, which affects the chance of marriage and parenthood.

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Chronic sugar intake dampens feeding-related activity of neurons synthesizing a satiety mediator, oxytocin

Chronic sugar intake dampens feeding-related activity of neurons synthesizing a satiety mediator, oxytocin
Anaya Mitra et al., 2010
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3175817/


Abstract

Increased tone of orexigens mediating reward occurs upon repeated consumption of sweet foods. Interestingly, some of these reward orexigens, such as opioids, diminish activity of neurons synthesizing oxytocin, a nonapeptide that promotes satiety and feeding termination. It is not known, however, whether consumption-related activity of the central oxytocin system is modified under chronic sugar feeding reward itself. Therefore, we examined how chronic consumption of a rewarding high-sucrose (HS) vs. bland cornstarch (CS) diet affected the activity of oxytocin cells in the hypothalamus at the time of meal termination. Schedule-fed (2 hrs/day) rats received either a HS or CS powdered diet for 20 days. On the 21st day, they were given the same or the opposite diet, and food was removed after the main consummatory activity was completed. Animals were perfused 60 minutes after feeding termination and brains were immunostained for oxytocin and the marker of neuronal activity, c-Fos. The percentage of c-Fos-positive oxytocin cells in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus was significantly lower in rats chronically exposed to the HS than to the CS diet, regardless of which diet they received on the final day. A similar pattern was observed in the supraoptic nucleus. We conclude that the chronic rather than acute sucrose intake reduces activity of the anorexigenic oxytocin system. These findings indicate that chronic consumption of sugar blunts activity of pathways that mediate satiety. We speculate that a reduction in central satiety signaling precipitated by regular intake of foods high in sugar may lead to generalized overeating.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: is it time to reappraise the role of sugar consumption?

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: is it time to reappraise the role of sugar consumption?
Johnson R J et al., 2011


Abstract

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects nearly 10% of children in the United States, and the prevalence of this disorder has increased steadily over the past decades. The cause of ADHD is unknown, although recent studies suggest that it may be associated with a disruption in dopamine signaling whereby dopamine D2 receptors are reduced in reward-related brain regions. This same pattern of reduced dopamine-mediated signaling is observed in various reward-deficiency syndromes associated with food or drug addiction, as well as in obesity. While genetic mechanisms are likely contributory to cases of ADHD, the marked frequency of the disorder suggests that other factors are involved in the etiology. In this article, we revisit the hypothesis that excessive sugar intake may have an underlying role in ADHD. We review preclinical and clinical data suggesting overlaps among ADHD, sugar and drug addiction, and obesity. Further, we present the hypothesis that the chronic effects of excessive sugar intake may lead to alterations in mesolimbic dopamine signaling, which could contribute to the symptoms associated with ADHD. We recommend further studies to investigate the possible relationship between chronic sugar intake and ADHD.