It's true: you can thank your sister for those love handles

It's really nice that I have two sisters, but they're not doing my love handles any favors, research shows.

If you have a sister, you're actually more likely to have a love handle here and there. Especially if you have a younger sister. And I have one of those too... Research shows that older sisters are 29 percent more likely to have an extra kilo compared to their younger sisters. So it's no joke, it's serious. No less than 13,000 sisters participated in this research, so these Swedish scientists know what they're talking about.

Hey sis, we need to talk. But it's all scientifically backed. It has everything to do with biology. A lot happens during the mother's pregnancy with the first child. A professor at the Liggins Institute at the University of Auckland suggests that it may have to do with the blood vessels that lead nutrients to the mother's first fetus. In a first pregnancy, those blood vessels are thinner, causing the fetus to receive fewer nutrients. This increases the risk that a young child – once born – stores more fats because it immediately goes into survival mode. This results in insulin being less effective in firstborn children and their metabolism being a bit slower later in life. They will also continue to have more cravings due to their early beginnings.

Additionally, there's a simpler explanation: moeders they have all the time to feed the first child extensively. The child simply gets more than all the others that come after and thus becomes just a bit heavier.

Note: the researchers only looked at sisters. Whether this also applies to brothers is still unclear. So thank your dear sister for a few years younger but. You have the curves, she has the flat stomach. It's just in the genes and you have just a bit more to love.

Source: Oxford Academic