Are attractive people immunologically stronger compared to less attractive folk? A new study seems to think so.
While the researchers acknowledge that many aspects remain unanswered, they believe their data suggests "a relationship between facial attractiveness and immune function is likely to exist."
A team from Texas Christian University looked at 159 individuals who were either students at the university or residents of the local community in a published on Wednesday.
After the participants' headshots were taken, they were given a set of tests to evaluate their immune system, bodily inflammation, and self-reported health.
When the findings were analyzed, the scientists discovered that those with attractive looks had considerably healthier immune function, particularly in terms of bacterial immunity.
Surprisingly, there was no correlation between increased inflammation and attractiveness among subjects. This could imply that facial attractiveness is a stronger predictor of a healthy immune system than symptoms of acute illness.
In short, the fundamental function of face attractiveness may have less to do with avoiding a sick partner and more to do with avoiding a mate who may have an impact on the health of your future progeny - at least hypothetically.
The research also turned up some fascinating gender variances. Men with high-functioning natural killer cells, for example, were more likely to be regarded as attractive. These cells are essential for the body's viral infection clearance.
Women, on the other hand, were deemed more attractive when a bacterium in their plasma grew slower, which is linked to mineral, glucose, and antibody levels in the blood.
The findings imply that facial attractiveness is linked to immunological elements that can be passed down down the generations, but that doesn't rule out the influence of cultural influences on individual views of beauty. It's unclear how each one stacks up.
"It is also possible that links between attractiveness and health may be obscured in modern humans, given that human mate preferences were forged before the advent of modern medicine," the authors suggest.
Ultimately, one study is insufficient to tell why humans have aesthetics and what evolutionary purpose, if any, facial beauty may serve. More research will be required to reproduce these findings, if they can be replicated, and to investigate what is driving the link between physical beauty and immunological function.
In principle, it's an intriguing concept, but there isn't enough evidence to back it up. Against this backdrop, the present study's authors claim that their research is the most rigorous on the subject to date.
Beauty will remain a mystery until then.
The study was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
