A study just published by the American Journal of Physical Anthropology reveals that dads have higher prolactin ínides than men who have no children.
Since we recently talked about the possibility that men can breastfeed, although this work is not especially about it, I think it is very interesting to discover that there are investigations that are revealing precisely that fatherhood increases prolactin.
The researchers analyzed prolactin levels of 289 men at the Cebu Metropolitan Hospital in the Philippines, trying to find out if the hormone prolactin was modified by circumstances such as sexual behavior or paternity.
Prolactin has a fundamental role in the reproductive life of males and females of mammalian species and is a candidate to explain the development of paternal behavior in males. However, very little was known about its incidence in humans.
The work revealed the parents had higher levels of prolactin, especially they had children under 4 and a half years old, than those who were not parents. Among men who had no children, the levels were higher if they reported an active sex life.
The conclusion of the work is that it can be affirmed that prolactin increases in parents, especially while his children are small and that in addition to being related to fatherhood, he also seems to have a certain relationship with sexual activity, revealing himself as an important element of men's reproductive adaptations.
