By 1.5 times which each added 100 ml of asymmetry

Nov 13, 2007 19:06 GMT  ·  By

There's no such thing as perfect symmetry. Indeed, our genes encode for a biological program that should make us develop in a perfectly symmetric organism. But the body has to fight from the very start to achieve the perfect condition, called homeostasis.

In this fight, there are many 'obstacles', such as food supply, nutritional factors, temperature, humidity and others, that fluctuate in a manner that in many cases reach non-optimal values. The better an organism manages to fight off disturbing factors, the more symmetrical it will be. And this power is largely connected to the genetic value of the body.

Thus, a degree of asymmetry in organisms is considered acceptable, being called fluctuating asymmetry. But when the degree of asymmetry bypasses a certain threshold, this points to disease and weak genetic quality.

Indeed, various researches showed that people find more attractive the more symmetrical faces. It's not only about beauty, but also about genetic quality and health.

But what about the asymmetrical breasts? Maybe not so surprising, a 2006 research has found that the less symmetrical the breasts, the higher the chance of developing breast cancer. Every 100ml difference in size between the breasts increased the chances of developing cancer by 1.5 times!

The British team led by Diane Scutt from the University of Liverpool, UK investigated the mammograms of 252 female subjects healthy at the time of the mammography, but which later experienced the condition. The team compared this category with a control group of 252 female subjects the same age who underwent mammography at the same time, but did not experience breast cancer.

The team found that when the women underwent the mammography, those going to develop breast cancer displayed higher breast asymmetry than in the case of control group, and the value of 1.5 higher risk with each added 100ml of asymmetry was obtained after taking in consideration other risk factors, too.