In an experiment, 41 men under stress were asked to rate the attractiveness of women whose bodies ranged from emaciated to obese, while a control group of 40 normal men did the same.

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Researchers, led by Viren Swami of the University of Westminster in London, found the stressed men rated the photos of women with a "significantly heavier female body size as maximally attractive" compared to the control group.

The authors said this phenomenon could be because people tend to idealize mature morphological traits, such as heavier body size, when they experience an environmental threat like stress.

The research was published Wednesday in the journal PLoS One.