Science

Our c-section success might be giving us big heads

Our c-section success might be giving us big heads
Are c-section births shaping human evolution?
Are c-section births shaping human evolution?
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Are c-section births shaping human evolution?
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Are c-section births shaping human evolution?

Caesarean sections have helped overcome many a life-threatening childbirth since they became more commonplace in the 1950s, but what of their influence on human evolution? A new study suggests that the growing number of mothers giving birth in this way is leading to a higher number of bigger baby heads making it into the world, whose genes have been passed on to result in a "strikingly high" incidence of obstructed labor today.

The concept of a caesarean section has been around for centuries, indeed some speculate the Julius Caesar was born in this way and gave rise to its name. But medical advances made it a whole lot safer following World War II, and the procedure has been used routinely in industrialized countries since around that time.

A c-section might be opted for when the baby is too large to fit through the mother's pelvis, circumstances where a natural birth would place the baby and mother's life in danger. This is a relatively common occurrence compared to childbirth in other primates, thanks to the disproportionately large fetus compared to the human mother's pelvic canal.

It doesn't seem all that surprising that the higher rates of babies delivered through c-section will result in a higher amount of bigger babies in the world – it is, after all, the procedure's desired outcome. But in an effort to quantify its consequences and eye any emerging evolutionary trends, an international team of scientists carried out an analysis of birth data over the last half a century.

It found that the global rate of fetopelvic disproportion (when the baby's head is too big to fit through the pelvic canal), has risen by between 10 and 20 percent, from 3 percent of births in the 1960s to 3.3-3.6 percent today, which the researchers describe as strikingly high.

"We predict that the regular use of Caesarean sections throughout the last decades has led to an evolutionary increase of fetopelvic disproportion rates by 10 to 20 percent," the researchers write, though they do point to other possible explanations. These include substantial changes in nutrition over the last century, along with migrating mothers with narrower pelvises raising fetuses on high-protein western diets.

The research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Source: Phys.org

6 comments
6 comments
Sean Reynolds
This is ridiculous. If vaginal birth creates a smaller head, it does so physically not genetically... So there would be nothing genetic to pass on.
This article shows a fundamental misunderstanding of genetics and evolutionary theory.
MattII
@Sean Reynolds, nope, some people are genetically predispositioned to fetopelvic disprortion, and now that babies survive, rather than dying off as they used to.
Bob
My big headed son was born through caesarean section and his daughters also had fairly large heads but they were no problem for his tiny 4 foot 9 inch wife to give normal birth. I suspect there is something else at work here like diet, anabolic steroid food additives and generally better data keeping. If evolution were at work, wouldn't it favor increasingly smaller heads since c-sections are not common in much of the world?
Brooke
There's another factor: a C-section baby did not pass through the birth canal and so did not get dosed with her bacteria. A simple procedure could fix that which may prevent problems later in life.
Lbrewer42
Bring on more of the Modern Dark Ages preaching!
How ridiculous this is. As Sean Reynolds already has stated, the birth canal is what compresses the head.
This article is as non-factually scientific as saying that if a man and wife cut off their thumbs, and their kids thumbs, that their grandchildren might be born without thumbs.
At least there is this statement included,"...though they do point to other possible explanations. These include substantial changes in nutrition over the last century, along with migrating mothers with narrower pelvises raising fetuses on high-protein western diets. "
Absolutely anything is claimed for the sake to promote or uphold evolutionary theory. Sadly, this article need be relegated where it belongs - unscientific propaganda driven by desire towards propagating theory. Why do these type of things keep popping up? Science is in no need of such things.
...which may be why they keep popping up!
FabianLamaestra
I wonder if the Oculus founder, Palmer Luckey, was born this way. I saw him in person at CES last year and the man has a pretty substantial head size IMHO.