Reducing life because of male birth

Pregnancy and raising a few boys can make mothers "pay" for health and longevity. One of the main causes is an increase in testosterone in the mother's body, which causes immunodeficiency.

Scientists from the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (UK) and Oxford University said that maternal mortality rates increased by 11% after each son's birth. They concluded that there was indeed " a long-term bid for a son ", after studying about 200,000 women in Matlab, Bangladesh.

According to Dr. Lisa Hurt, a member of the research team, some of the causes of male births are disadvantageous to health: boys' birth weight is often heavier than girls, thereby increasing the burden on the mother's body. The male fetus also increases the amount of testosterone in the mother, causing aging of the immune system and making it less resistant to disease. In addition, warm boys need more care after their birth.

Meanwhile, the research team found no signs of mortality between the number of girls. In addition, when growing up, girls help their mothers with many jobs such as cooking and taking care of them (at least in traditional society), so it helps them to live a long time.

For men, there is no clear connection between life expectancy and number of sons. But the fathers' mortality rates tend to decrease when boys grow up.

ML ( by Telegraph )