More than 25 years after "Baby Got Back" hit the airwaves, the world is still fascinated with butts.
Of course, there were song lyrics about butts before the Sir Mix-a-Lot hit, but today more than ever, our culture is obsessed with the size of women's behinds.
Jennifer Lopez kicked off the butt fad as we now know it in 2000 when she showed up at the Grammy Awards, flaunting her booty in a see-through, low-cut Versace dress that left very little to the imagination.
"After they saw her, people started asking us, 'Hey, how can I get a backside like that?'" said Dr. Constantino G. Mendieta, a Miami-based plastic surgeon.
These days, women are turning to Brazilian butt lifts and squat challenges to get their derrieres resembling those that belong to celebrities like Kim Kardashian.
Now, even science is giving women more reason to embrace their shapely behinds.
According to a study conducted by the University of Oxford, women with larger than average behinds are not only smarter than those with smaller glutes, they're also healthier.
"The idea that body fat distribution is important to health has been known for some time," explains lead researcher Professor Konstantinos Manolopoulous. "However, it is only very recently that thigh fat and a large hip circumference have been shown to promote health; that lower body fat is protective by itself."
The study, which obtained data from 16,000 women, revealed that women with larger bums are more resistant to chronic illnesses, and tend to have lower levels of glucose and cholesterol. These women also showed higher levels of Omega-3 fats, leptin, a hormone that regulates weight, and dinopectina, a hormone that contains anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic properties.
On top of it all, those with larger posteriors have increased adipose tissue, which is believed to play a role in preventing cardiovascular disease by blocking fatty particles from spreading through the body.
While having excess fat in the lower part of your body can be beneficial to your physical and mental health, the verdict that upper body and belly fat leads to serious health issues still stands.
It's also important to note that the researchers analyzed women with natural butts, not surgically-enhanced behinds.
