Lifestyle Can Change The Shape Of Your Jaw

Our habits and our lifestyle have an incredible power to change everything, in a great deal of aspects of our health and even physical shape. It is true: according to the findings of British anthropologists, our habits and even the foods we consume can have direct effects on such factor as our jaw shape. For example, consuming potato and other natural foods rich in starch can lead to shortening of our jawbones, report the scientists of the University of Kent.

In the framework of this interesting study, a group of anthropologists led by Dr Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel, analyzed the specifics of jaw-bones and skull shape of about 300 individuals, who represented 11 totally different cultural lifestyles and traditions developing within the last two thousand years. In particular, some participants were coming from traditionally hunter-gatherer societies, and some were the representatives of natural lifestyles dominated with agriculture and gardening, as well as consuming mainly soft natural foods like fruits and vegetables rather than meat and other hard foods. The main approach used for estimations and analysis was making usual physical measurements.

After analyzing the data, the scientists came to the conclusions that the people who lived in hunter-gather societies had considerably larger and narrower jaw-bones compared to the people who used to consume more fruit and veggies. The analysis was followed by the attempts to correlate the jaw shape differences with other important factors like climate, genetics, geography and others, but no clear connections were established. That is why the experts are sure that it’s our shewing behavior which has the greatest effects on our jaw shape.

Dr Cramon-Taubadel said the following about the work of her study group: “The pattern was consistent, regardless of which part of the world the people came from.” “The results indicate that there is something biomechanical, rather than something genetic, that is altering the way the mandible grows,” she added. It is interesting that the scientists from the study group are sure that the changes and adjustments in our jaw shape are happening not only on an evolutionary level, but also on our individual levels, as we grow up and develop during our life. Everyone who is interested in the issue can read more about the findings of this interesting study in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Tags: jaw shape, lifestyle