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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 19, 1993                   TAG: 9302190006
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: LONDON                                LENGTH: Short

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WOMEN'S SHAPE TIED TO FERTILITY

For women yearning to be fruitful and multiply, better to be a pear than an apple.

In other words, according to a Dutch study of 500 women, females who tend to gain weight in the waist take longer to conceive than women who tend to gain in the hips.

The new study, published in The British Medical Journal, suggests fertility is affected not only by weight, but by how it is distributed.

Though scientists do not know why body shape correlates with fertility, they have speculated that fat can act like a chemical signal, triggering the release of hormones.

Apple-shaped women, the typical male shape, may have higher levels of male hormones compared to pear-shaped women, the typical female physique, DeCherney said. - Associated Press

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