Taller, skinnier women have more babies, says study

Improved healthcare and nutrition is causing taller and slimmer women to have more babies, according to the results of a study published in the Daily Mail today.

The study, carried out by Durham University, followed two communities of women in Gambia, but researchers said the trend could also be observed in the wider world.

The research also challenges the idea that low death rates in the West had hindered natural selection, and that the evolution of the human race had, in effect, stopped.

Data collected by the UK Medical Research Council between 1956 and 2010 was used to provide information concerning the inhabitants of two Gambian villages

The researchers had thorough data on the height and weight of the women. Over this period, both communities experienced significant demographic shifts - from high mortality and fertility rates to rapidly declining ones.

This change was down to improved nutrition and medical care.

The researchers found that as birth rates declined, the women's weight and height changed too.

The analysis showed that selection initially favoured short and heavier women but this shifted over time to favour tall women with a lower body weight.

By the end of the period, this preference had reversed, with taller, thin women having more children than average .

Dr Ian Rickard, lecturer in the Department of Anthropology, said: "This is a reminder that declines in mortality rates do not necessarily mean that evolution stops, but that it changes."