Study: Curvy hips lure men to smart women

Women with small waists and big hips also have big IQs, a new U.S. study has found.

A study of 16,000 women determined those with hourglass figures were more intelligent than their counterparts with round or straight bodies, The Sunday Times of London reported.

Curvier women also tended to have more intelligent children, possibly because omega3 fatty acids are stored in their hips, the British newspaper said. Skinny women, or those whose fat deposits are around their waists do not have such deposits.

The study, to be published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior this week, may explain earlier findings that men prefer women with smaller waists than hips even if they are compared to slimmer women, said the study's authors at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of California, Santa Barbara.

It may also help break down the stereotype that attractive women are not intelligent, sexual and relationship psychologist Paula Hall told the newspaper.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International