All women striving to achieve a stick-thin figure can now stop torturing themselves with all kinds of diets and workout regimes. A new study has revealed, as reported by Fox news, that women with a pear-shaped figure, the likes of which singers Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce have made famous, are healthier than those with a more slender frame.

Published in the journal “Cell Metabolism,” the new study states that the fat responsible for the pear-shape figure can have a positive influence in the prevention of certain diseases, because it releases certain hormones that lower their chances of being developed. For instance, researchers from the Harvard Medical School have found that buttock and hip fat protects women against type 2 diabetes, Fox News informs.

The same goes for heart diseases; with women with this type of figure being considerably less prone to developing either condition than those with an apple figure, where fat is stored around the tummy. Dr. Ronald Kahn, involved in the recent research, stresses that not all fat is bad for the health, and holds this study as an illustrative example of how it can actually help the body fight certain diseases.

“The surprising thing was that it wasn’t where the fat was located, it was the kind of fat that was the most important variable. Even more surprising, it wasn’t that abdominal fat was exerting negative effects, but that subcutaneous fat was producing a good effect. I think it’s an important result because not only does it say that not all fat is bad, but I think it points to a special aspect of fat where we need to do more research.” he said, as quoted by Fox News.

This study comes, somewhat sadly, right on the heels of another one, which shows that the hourglass figure is no longer a desirable frame to be had. This happens because starlets like Victoria Beckham and Keira Knightley, the study reveals, have imposed a certain standard of beauty, slender and strictly proportionate from shoulders to toes, which puts that set by Sophia Loren and Marilyn Monroe in the shadow. In light of the former research, perhaps some reconsidering should be in order.