Facial Appearance and Markers of Cardiometabolic Risk in Healthy Adult Men
July 2025
in “
Archives of Sexual Behavior
”
Studysummary This study found that while men's facial appearance, specifically attractiveness and masculinity, correlated with cardiometabolic indicators like insulin resistance and triglycerides, these links disappeared after adjusting for factors such as age, adiposity, and testosterone levels, suggesting that facial cues do not reliably indicate metabolic health.
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This study investigated whether facial appearance in men reflects metabolic health, using a sample of 105 healthy men with an average age of 35.42 years. Cardiometabolic health was assessed through various biomarkers, while facial attractiveness and masculinity were evaluated via photographs. Initial findings suggested negative relationships between facial traits and insulin resistance, triglycerides, and cardiometabolic risk, but these were not significant after adjusting for age, adiposity, and testosterone levels. Facial attractiveness and masculinity were positively linked to testosterone and negatively to adiposity, with masculinity also correlating with age. The study concludes that men's facial appearance indicates age, adiposity, and testosterone levels, but not cardiometabolic health.
