Flabby, older fathers are healthier, live longer and are more attractive to women

October 31, 2016

Men with saggy moobs are more attractive to opposite sex, book claims
They are counter-intuitively more healthy than their gym-going peers
That’s the conclusion of academic Richard Bribiescas from Yale University
He claims women who become young mothers more likely to die earlier

Matt Hunter For Mailonline

Published:
04:15 EST, 31 October 2016

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Updated:
04:56 EST, 31 October 2016

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The man with the extra tyre around his waist (Homer Simpson pictured) is more attractive to the opposite sex, according to the book

Fathers over 50 who are more accustomed to watching sport from the comfort of the armchair than being active themselves are more likely to live longer, a new book claims.

Men with an extra tyre around the waist and saggy moobs are more attractive to the opposite sex, better at passing on genes and in fact healthier than peers who are always in the gym.

That is the conclusion of academic Richard Bribiescas who has written his ‘pudgy dad hypothesis’ in his new work How Men Age.

The Yale University professor of anthropology also said mothers who had several children early in life are more likely to die younger and age quicker.

He says one of the keys to a long life for men is the natural decline of sex hormones which is blunted when muscle-focused friends spike their testosterone levels with months and years pulling weights.

Professor Bribiescas writes: ‘Macho makes you sick. The Hollywood image of the swaggering, dashing man dispatching bad guys and carrying the day conjures up a perception of indestructibility.

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‘[But] while men are on average larger and physically stronger than women, men have a considerable weakness. We have a harder time fighting off infections and illness compared with women, and . . . men simply do not take care of themselves.

‘This has a significant negative impact on the pace at which men age.’

His work may go towards answering why men can remain fertile into their 50s, 60s and beyond.

Michael Douglas, 71, fathered children when he was well into his 50s. Sir Rod Stewart, 71, was in his respective late 60s when he last fathered children

Michael Douglas, 71, fathered children when he was well into his 50s. Robert De Niro, 73, and Sir Rod Stewart, 71, were both in their respective late 60s when they last fathered children.

A 2008 Baltimore study backs up Professor Bribiescas’ work after it found men who burnt more calories at rest were about 50 per cent more likely to die than those with a slower metabolism.

Academics think men who are slightly overweight can be less vulnerable to prostrate cancer and heart attacks because they have lower testosterone levels.

It means they are more likely to be house husbands, look after children and less inclined to have affairs, the book claims.

And a survey in Latvia found that women found men more attractive when they were pudgy than lean.