According to Urban Dictionary, a 'dad bod' is defined as: 'A guy who has kids and was once in shape and still has guns that can crush beer cans but also with a belly that says I drank those beers and I can eat six slices of pizza in one seating.'

Oxford Dictionary, eat your heart out because we think that's a pretty good description of the physique of many a father enjoying parenthood and adult life.

That said, the 'dad bod' isn't exactly the physique you imagine when you dream, sorry think of the likes of Jason Mamoa, Ryan Gosling and David Beckham.

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But according to a scientist from Yale University, all that might be about to change as podgy dads have been found to live longer, are more attractive to women and are better at passing their genes than their slimmer contemporaries.

Professor Richard Bribiescas, professor of anthropology and deputy provost at Yale University explains that as men age, their testosterone levels decrease, resulting in 'a loss of muscle mass and increase in fat mass' which also means their lives are prolonged and they have a strengthening of the immune system.

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'Macho makes you sick,' Bribiescas writes in his book How Men Age: What Evolution Reveals About Male Health and Mortality.

'The Hollywood image of the swaggering, dashing man dispatching bad guys and carrying the day conjures up a perception of indestructibility,' he adds.

According to Bribiescas, doughier men are more likely to invest time in their children instead of looking for other women while their excess weight is more attractive to the opposite sex.

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The change in weight as men get older, 'not only causes men to shop for more comfortable trousers but also facilitates increased survivorship and, hypothetically, a hormonal milieu that would more effectively promote and support paternal investment', he writes.

Meanwhile, a study from a Cambridge University study last year found that women on the look out for the future father of their offspring should choose long-distance runners who, more often than not, have low levels of fat, stronger sex drives and higher sperm counts.

Dad bods, lean bods, ripped bods, pudgy bods – does it really make a difference?

We're just happy that men of all shapes and sizes are being celebrated, for once.

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Katie O'Malley
Site Director

Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.