The Truth Behind the Viral Claim That Women With Bigger Butts Are Healthier and Smarter

A provocative claim has been circulating online for years, promising women with larger buttocks an unexpected advantage: better health and intelligence. The headline sounds like a breakthrough, but the research behind the viral story is more complicated.

The claim is often attributed to Oxford researchers and is linked to research examining where women store body fat. A 2010 paper discussed gluteofemoral fat, meaning fat stored around the hips, thighs and buttocks, and its relationship with metabolic health.

Researchers found that having more fat stored in the lower body can be associated with a healthier profile for certain measures including cholesterol and glucose levels. Lower-body fat distribution has also been associated with reduced cardiovascular and metabolic risk compared with carrying more fat around the abdomen.

That part of the story has a scientific basis.

The intelligence claim, however, is where social-media posts have stretched the research much further than the evidence allows.

Fact-checkers who examined the original Oxford research found that the paper did not establish that women with larger buttocks are inherently smarter. Oxford representatives also explained that the intelligence claim appeared to be a misinterpretation of the research.

There have been discussions in scientific literature about relationships between body-fat distribution, fatty acids and cognitive development, but that is very different from proving that having a larger butt automatically makes someone more intelligent.

The viral posts also commonly mention research involving thousands of women, sometimes giving a figure of 16,000 participants. That number has been repeatedly attached to the story online, but it should not be presented as evidence that Oxford researchers proved a direct connection between butt size and intelligence.

What the research does suggest is that where the body stores fat can matter for health. Abdominal fat and lower-body fat behave differently biologically, and researchers have continued studying how fat distribution relates to diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other conditions.

That does not mean body shape alone can determine whether someone is healthy. Genetics, diet, physical activity, age, hormones and many other factors influence health outcomes.

The same caution applies to intelligence. Cognitive ability is influenced by numerous biological, educational, environmental and social factors. A person’s body shape cannot reasonably be used as a measure of how intelligent they are.

So, while the viral headline may be entertaining, it turns a nuanced area of medical research into an oversimplified claim.

The takeaway is less sensational but interesting: scientists have found evidence that storing more fat around the hips and thighs can be associated with certain favorable metabolic characteristics, while the popular claim that bigger buttocks make women smarter has not been established by the Oxford research.