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Possible metabolic constraints on human brain weight at birth
Author(s) -
Epstein Herman T.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330390114
Subject(s) - human brain , limit (mathematics) , brain size , birth weight , body weight , biology , age limit , demography , physiology , medicine , neuroscience , mathematics , pregnancy , endocrinology , sociology , mathematical analysis , genetics , radiology , magnetic resonance imaging
Having humans born with adult‐size brains would entail only a small and readily evolved increase in the size of the human female birth canal. The explanation for the present size of the human brain at birth is then plausibly based on the upper limit of brain that can be nourished by present human nutritional strategies. This limit turns out to be about 10% of the body weight of the newborn infant, in agreement with the actual value.