Fat transfers, nature & the nurturing role of female fat

Recent work brought to a wider audience some interesting research undertaken by a team at the University of Pittsburgh. Having wondered why women’s bodies are more curvaceous than male counterparts – given similar degrees of body mass index, of course – they discovered that the fat in certain areas contained more of a certain compound (docosahexanoic acid) that is key to brain development.

The brain is predominantly fatty in nature, hence the need for the extra strong bony box of the skull for protection, and it appears that fat in female thighs and buttocks is genetically predisposed to be retained in case of childbirth. These areas act as depots for constructing the nervous system of developing babies’ brains. This may explain why such fat is notoriously difficult to shift with diet and exercise alone and why liposuction has such a role in body contouring.

Extrapolating from this is the premise that larger-bottomed and –thighed women may give rise to more intelligent offspring than their more svelte counterparts. Does this mean that the Kardashian and Minaj progeny will be vying to inherit the cerebral mantle of Einstein and Hawking? This pedestrian intellect then wonders both whether liposuction of these areas pre-pregnancy might limit the IQ of future generations, whereas fat transfer, currently all the rage, might have an opposite function?

Article written by consultant cosmetic surgeon Mr Miles Berry MS, FRCS (Plast)