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CHILDREN WITH OLDER FATHERS ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE UGLY
Older fathers have uglier children, researchers have claimed after linking age to genetic mutations.
With age, sperm-producing cells do not copy a man's DNA as effectively, leading to genetic mutations.
A study in the journal Nature showed that women pass on a maximum of 15 mutations to their baby regardless of their age.
However in men the mutation rate was found to double every 16 years.
Martin Fielder, an anthropologist at Vienna University, surveyed a group of six men and six women, showing them each 4,018 photographs of 18-20-year-old men and 4,416 photographs of women of the same age.
Those with older fathers were consistently rated as being less attractive.
Dr Fielder said: 'The effect is very visible - someone born to a father of 22 is already 5-10 per cent more attractive than those with a 40-year-old father and the difference grows with the age gap.'
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