Caesarean birth can affect human evolution

C-section or C-section can save lives when babies are too big to be born often or due to other health complications. But this method is also affecting the way of human evolution.

In the past, older babies and mothers with narrow pelvic dimensions may have to die in exertion. Thanks to the caesarean section method, such cases are much less but also mean that dangerous genes from the mother with narrow pelvis can be inherited for the next generation.

According to estimates from researchers at the University of Vienna - Austria, the case of unborn babies usually increased from 30/1000 cases in the 1960s to 36/1000 today due to the effects of caesarean section. . This is a remarkable change in just half a century.

Many people still question the harmful effects of caesarean birth on mothers and babies.(Photo: Anna Maria Liljestrand / Flickr).

Philipp Mitteroecker, theoretical biologist speaking to Helen Briggs at the BBC: "Without intervention from modern medicine, such cases can lead to death, and this, from a forward perspective. "Our goal is not to criticize medical intervention, but there are implications for evolution anyway."

The team used a mathematical model based on abnormal birth data to get an estimate.

More detailed research needs to be done to determine the link between caesarean section and evolution by the present, all we have is hypothesis based on reproductive data. However, Mitteroecker and his colleagues said that it is important to consider the impact of the increase in these cases.

The research team did not criticize the use of caesarean birth methods. Their research is aimed at the potential impact of this method on society in the long term .

"The urgent question here is what will happen in the future , " Mitteroecker said.

Researchers want to spark a discussion about the appropriate caesarean section level. According to the World Health Organization, this rate should be maintained at about 10% - 15% if you want to make sure your baby and mother are as healthy as possible.

Caesarean birth rates should be maintained at about 10% - 15% if you want to make sure your baby and mother are as healthy as possible.

However, researchers are also vague about the pros and cons of a caesarean method: They are linked to an increase in obesity cases but no one can explain why. why. And unclear evidence of how a baby is born can affect brain development, but only in mice.

One thing is for sure, even though this method is saving a large number of babies. For future mothers, it is important to make choices and that is the purpose of this study from Austria.

In the future, researchers believe that natural births will disappear . "I hope that this evolutionary trend will continue but perhaps not much and slowly. There are limits to that. Therefore, I do not expect one day, most children will be born by means. surgery, " Mitteroecker said.