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The gender insulin hypothesis: a response to Wilkin and Murphy (2006)

International Journal of Obesity volume 31, page 1479 (2007)Cite this article

Wilkin and Murphy1 (henceforth W and M) proposed that girls are born lighter than boys because females are genetically more resistant to insulin and therefore are less responsive to its trophic effects. If true, this hypothesis is important. In addressing it, one may reflect on a number of research findings that seem to bear on it. The purpose here is to challenge the authors to show how these findings cohere with their hypothesis.

Let the difference between the mean birth weights of boys and of girls in a sample be

Typical values of D are of the order of between 100 and 200 g. For instance, I have calculated values of D in respect of single live births to

  1. a)

    3 068 213 white mothers in the US 1993 – 118 g.2

  2. b)

    638 980 black mothers in the US 1993 – 109 g.2

  3. c)

    16 377 mothers in the 1958 British Births Cohort – 132 g.3

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Galton Laboratory, University College London, London, UK

    W H James

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  1. W H James
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James, W. The gender insulin hypothesis: a response to Wilkin and Murphy (2006). Int J Obes 31, 1479 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0803629

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