Polygamy key to a longer life for men

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London, Aug 20: It may not sound ethical but a new study suggests that polygamy can give a man a longer life. A team of researchers at the University of Sheffield in Britain has carried out the study and found that men from Polygamous cultures actually outlive those from monogamous countries in the world. “After accounting for socioeconomic differences, men aged over 60 from 140 countries that practice polygamy to varying degrees lived on average 12%longer than men from 49 mostly monogamous nations,” the New Scientist quoted lead researcher Virpi Lummaa as saying. Rather than a call to polygamy, the study might solve a long-standing puzzle in human biology–Why do men live so long?

This question only makes sense after asking the same for women who live long past menopause, according to researchers. “One answer seems to be a phenomenon called the grandmother effect. For every 10 years a woman survives past the menopause, she gains two additional grandchildren,” Lummaa was quoted as saying. It seems that doting on and spoiling grandchildren aids their survival, as well as furthering some of their grandmother’s genes.

Men, on contrast, can reproduce well into their 60s and even 70s and 80s, and most researchers assumed this explained their longevity.