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Scientists reveal what the perfect man's body looks like - and it's good news for men with dad bods
It's a question that has puzzled men around the world for centuries.
What do women really want?
Now, scientists may have finally found the answer - at least in terms of male physique.
Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have uncovered the body type that women find most attractive.
And their findings will come as good news for men with 'dad bods'.
According to the research, the most attractive body mass index (BMI) for men is between 23 and 27.
At the higher end, that's actually classed as 'overweight' by the NHS.
'Body fat (adiposity) may be important because it is linked closely (inversely) to circulating testosterone levels and is therefore a better indicator of mate "quality",' the researchers wrote.
Ideas about the 'perfect' female body have changed hugely through the years.
For example, in the 1950s, weight gain tablets hit the shelves as women aspired to look like Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor, while the 90s saw ladies lusting after a thin, androgynous look dubbed 'heroin chic'.
However, until now, there have been few studies focusing on the perfect male body.
'Less attention has been paid to the key features driving physical attractiveness of males,' the researchers, led by Fan Xia, wrote in their study, published in Personality and Individual Differences.
To get to the bottom of it, the researchers enlisted 283 participants from three countries - China, Lithuania, and the UK.
The participants were shown 15 black-and-white images of men ranging in size from BMI 20.1 to 33.7, whose faces had been blurred.
The participants were asked to rank the images on a scale from one (least attractive) to nine (most attractive).
The results revealed that peak attractiveness corresponded to a BMI of 23.4 in China, 23.0 in Lithuania and 26.6 in the UK.
For reference, the NHS classes a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 as 'healthy', while a BMI of 25 to 29.9 puts you in the 'overweight' category.
'We did not find any large cultural differences in the preferred adiposity, despite the fact there are large differences in the baseline obesity levels in the countries we included and hence big differences in the exposure to individuals with higher body weights,' the team explained.
You might think that men would lust after a more trim physique.
However, the results showed that both male and female participants preferred bodies with a BMI of between 23 and 27.
'This is probably because it is evolutionarily advantageous for males and females to perceive attractiveness in their own populations in the same way, and most studies including ours indicate this is the case,' the team added.
The findings will come as good news for men carrying a few extra pounds.
However, the same can't be said for women - as previous studies have shown that men prefer ladies with slimmer physiques.
'Females appear sensitive to adiposity in a manner consistent with evolutionary expectations,' the researchers concluded.
'In contrast earlier work shows males judge females who are thinner than the evolutionary optimal as more attractive.'
HOW HAVE IDEAS ABOUT THE 'PERFECT' FEMALE BODY CHANGED?
Perceptions of the ideal female body can be linked to representations of women in media, whether found in pop culture, fashion or even politics.
These images of feminine attractiveness have changed significantly over the years.
1910 The Gibson Girl - An image produced by American graphic artist Charles Dana Gibson depicted the ideal female figure as tall and regal with an S-curve torso shape
1920 The Flapper - Cultural change sparked by the suffragette movement gave birth to short hair, knee length dresses and a more rambunctious, yet petite, view of female beauty
1950 The Hourglass - Voluptuous curves became important following the end of WWII, which also saw the creation of one of the most influential female bodies, Barbie
1960 The Twig - British cultural icon and model Twiggy brought forward an androgynous look in female ideals where small breasts and thinness were key
