Deborah Harrell wrote:
> Fatter Babies Have Bigger Heads
> In their study, published in the current issue of the
> American Journal of Human Biology, researchers studied
> 1,069 human newborns. They found that the fatter the
> baby was, the bigger his or her head was likely to be,
> even after accounting for other factors such as
> gestational age and birth length. They say the finding
> shows that newborns need that extra fat to feed their
> brains during the critical early stages of
> development. Previous studies have shown that the
> brain needs high amounts of energy in order to
> function and grow, and the bigger the organ is, the
> more energy it needs. Researchers say this is
> especially true during infancy when the brain goes
> through its maximum growth stage. For example, a
> newborn's brain can expend as much as 60% of the total
> energy produced by the body.
>
> Because human babies are not capable of fending for
> themselves, fatness as a newborn may have developed as
> an evolutionary mechanism to protect the brain as it
> develops. Malnutrition in early life can negatively
> affect the brain's development and is a major cause of
> infant death..."
Hm. Just on the basis of the three babies I had, that theory seems
reasonable. :)
Catherine was the thinnest at birth; she also had the smallest head.
(And the narrowest face....) She's plumping up nicely now, though --
she's approaching her twin's weight, but not his length yet.
Julia
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