title: Natural selection and birthweight.
abstract: Mean birthweight, even before induced births became commonplace, is slightly lower than the birthweight at which perinatal mortality is lowest. This finding, once hard to explain by natural selection, is shown to be exactly in line with predictions from natural selection theory.
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D006801:Humans; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D012641:Selection, Genetic