科學家表示 胖老爹更長壽 更有女人緣

Pudgy older fathers live longer, are more attractive to the opposite sex and are better at passing on their genes than their leaner counterparts, scientists have claimed.

科學家表示，年長體胖的男性比偏瘦的男同胞更長壽，更吸引異性，生育能力也更強。

Becoming fatter after fatherhood due to decreasing testosterone levels may not fit the “macho” ideal, but it actually prolongs lives and strengthens immune systems, according to Richard Bribiescas, professor of anthropology and deputy provost at Yale University.

男性做了父親以後，會因睾酮水平下降而體態發胖。老來發胖也許看起來不夠爺們兒，但它的確能延長壽命、增強免疫系統，耶魯大學副教務長兼人類學博士理查德.布比斯卡斯如是說。

There is evidence that these men are less likely to suffer from heart attacks and prostate cancer, while a study in 2008 found that men with high metabolisms were around 50 per cent more likely to die in a given year than those whose bodies burned up less energy at rest.

有證據表明，這些身材走樣的男性突發心臟病、患上前列腺癌的可能性更小。而2008年一項研究發現，在指定年度內，新陳代謝旺盛的男性比新陳代謝慢的男性死亡率高出約50%。

“Macho makes you sick,” said Prof Bribiescas. “The Hollywood image of the swaggering, dashing man dispatching bad guys and carrying the day conjures up a perception of indestructibility.

“強壯的身材其實不利於你的健康，”布比斯卡斯博士說道，“好萊塢打造出的那些狂拽酷炫、上天入地、嫉惡如仇、拯救世界的猛男形象總給人一種男人堅不可摧的錯覺。”

“While men are on average larger and physically stronger than women, men have a considerable weakness.

“雖然男性相比女性的平均體型更高大，身體也更加強壯，但是他們卻有一個嚴重的弱點。”

“We have a harder time fighting off infections and illness compared with women, simply do not take care of themselves.

“相比女性，我們男性在抵抗傳染病等疾病上更費勁......而且男人簡直不會照顧自己。”

Prof Bribiescas also argues that becoming more podgy makes dads more likely to invest their time in their children rather than looking for other women, while the increased levels of fat could make them more attractive to women.

布比斯卡斯博士還指出，老爹們越胖，獵豔的可能性就越小，而投入到孩子身上的時間就越多，但他們越發福，越討女人喜歡。

Among those to father children later in life are Robert De Niro, who had a child at 68, and Rod Stewart, who was 66 when his eighth child was born.

老來得子的美國演員羅伯特.德尼羅和英國搖滾歌手洛德.斯蒂沃特就是兩個很好的例子，前者在68歲有了第一個孩子，後者在66歲有了第八個孩子。

“[One] effect of lower testosterone levels is loss of muscle mass and increases in fat mass,” Prof Bribiescas writes in his book How Men Age: What Evolution Reveals About Male Health and Mortality.

“睾酮水平降低的影響之一就是肌肉含量減少、脂肪含量增加，”布比斯卡斯博士在《男性的衰老之旅：進化所揭示的關於男性健康和死亡的真相》一書中寫道。

“This change in body composition not only causes men to shop for more comfortable trousers but also facilitates increased survivorship and, hypothetically, a hormonal milieu that would more effectively promote and support paternal investment.”

“這種機體成分的變化不僅會讓年長男性更青睞寬鬆舒適的褲子，還會增強他們的生存能力。此外，年長胖男的荷爾蒙環境或許還能更有效地促使他們加大對後代的投入。”

The research follows the "dad bod" trend, in which middle-aged men were praised for their doughy physiques.

該項研究迎合了正流行的“爸爸肚”審美風潮，即中年男人鬆弛的肚皮如今越來越受到人們的喜愛。

However, a Cambridge University study last year found that women searching for a father for their children should choose long-distance runners, who traditionally have very low levels of fat, because they are more likely to have stronger sex drives and higher sperm counts.

然而，劍橋大學去年的一項研究發現，女性在尋找能夠與其組建家庭，養育後代的另一半時，應選擇脂肪含量極低，善於長跑的男性，因爲他們的性功能可能更強、精子數也更多。