Friday June 3, 10:02 AM
ITN
Curvy women are healthier than their waif-like counterparts, scientific research has claimed.
Danish scientists found women were more likely to live longer and have healthier hearts if they had hourglass figures like actresses Jennifer Lopez and Sophia Loren.
Curvaceous women are more likely to have stores of adiponectin, a protein hormone which has anti-inflammatory effects and is associated with reduced risk of heart attacks.
The ideal measurements for a woman are at least size 14 with hips of 40 inches or more, the study said. But, women with excess fat around the stomach - the so-called apple shape - are less healthy than their full-figured counterparts.
Fat cells around the stomach are different to fat cells elsewhere in the body and pump out chemicals that can damage the insulin system, raising the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
Berit Heitmann, professor of nutritional epidemiology at the Institute of Preventative Medicine in Copenhagen, said: "Fat on hips is different than fat on the abdomen. If you do not have enough of this fat you may risk heart attacks."
The study looked at thousands of women of different shapes over a period of time to see what health problems they had.
