Refined Carbohydrate Consumption and Facial Attractiveness

Abstract

Since the second half of the 20th century, a massive increase in the consumption of refined carbohydrates has occurred, generating well-described detrimental health effects such as obesity, insulin resistance, type II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and dental caries. Certain physiological mechanisms involved, particularly through chronic hyperglycaemia and hyperinsulinaemia, suggest that a non-medical trait such as facial attractiveness could also be affected. To explore this possibility, variation in facial attractiveness was evaluated relative to refined carbohydrate consumption. Attractiveness was assessed from facial pictures as judged by raters of the opposite sex. Estimates of refined carbohydrate consumption were based on the glycaemic load of three mealtimes at-higher glycaemic risk (breakfast, afternoon snack and between-meal snack). In the presence of several control variables, facial pictures of women and men with higher between-meal glycaemic loads were preferred by opposite-sex raters. Structural equation modeling suggests that this result is possibly mediated by an increase in apparent age for men and an increase in femininity for women. The different physiological ecologies of the three meals at-higher glycaemic risk are discussed as well as the interpretation of the results in terms of adaptation or maladaptation to the modern and unique dietary environment.

Keywords: dietary switch; evolutionary diet; facial attractiveness; glycaemic load; refined carbohydrates; social trait; sugars.

Figure 1.

Example of a pair of faces used during evaluation of women’s facial attractiveness by male raters. For each pair of women, the rater was instructed to click on the photograph of the woman that he found the most attractive. Photographs reproduced with permission.

Figure 2.

Hypothesized path model to explain attractiveness with the variables of the generalized linear mixed model. Only independent variables displaying P < 0.1 are considered. For men, the variable fem/masc index representing the femininity/masculinity index is not present.