They're always hanging around -- but most of us rarely give them a second thought. A science journalist exposes the impressive, eye-popping facts about breasts andbreast health.
Human breasts are different from all the other breasts on the planet.
Humans are the only mammals to have breasts that develop in puberty and then remain permanently enlarged, says Florence Williams, the author of Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History. Other female primates have them when necessary (i.e., their mammary glands grow during lactation and deflate after weaning). Ours, fleshy and fatty, "stick around regardless of our reproductive status," she says.
Humans are the only mammals to have breasts that develop in puberty and then remain permanently enlarged, says Florence Williams, the author of Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History. Other female primates have them when necessary (i.e., their mammary glands grow during lactation and deflate after weaning). Ours, fleshy and fatty, "stick around regardless of our reproductive status," she says.
Compared to our other organs, they're late bloomers.
Williams was fascinated to learn that our breasts are the last organ in our bodies to develop. Unlike, say, the brain or liver, whose architecture is set at birth, breasts don't really come into their own until well after birth. "The breast has to fully build itself out of nothing during puberty," she says. "Even if a woman never gets pregnant, her breasts pack and unpack a little bit each month, just in case." Over the course of a menstrual cycle, breast volume varies by 13.6 percent, owing to water retention and cell growth. (The average breast weighs just over a pound, but this can double in late pregnancy.)
Williams was fascinated to learn that our breasts are the last organ in our bodies to develop. Unlike, say, the brain or liver, whose architecture is set at birth, breasts don't really come into their own until well after birth. "The breast has to fully build itself out of nothing during puberty," she says. "Even if a woman never gets pregnant, her breasts pack and unpack a little bit each month, just in case." Over the course of a menstrual cycle, breast volume varies by 13.6 percent, owing to water retention and cell growth. (The average breast weighs just over a pound, but this can double in late pregnancy.)
No comments:
Post a Comment