Why does the pregnancy last nine months?

Ugo Pascolo 6:15 p.m., November 24, 2021, modified at 6:16 p.m., November 24, 2021

INTERVIEW

It is a complex mechanism that has allowed the survival of the human species: pregnancy.

But why does it last nine months?

This is one of the questions answered in

on Europe 1 by Bernard Sablonnière, professor of molecular biology at the Faculty of Medicine of Lille and a neurobiologist.

For the one who is also the author of the book

, the miracle of life is no longer a secret.

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"A question of energy"

"All women who have had a baby know that in the end, it is hard. There is first the size of the baby: one can imagine that if the pregnancy was longer, and therefore the baby bigger, women should have a larger pelvis. But researchers have shown that it is above all a question of energy ", explains the researcher at the microphone of Europe 1.

To illustrate his remarks, Dr Sablonnière takes a simple example.

"A rider in the Tour de France can quadruple his energy consumption during the eight hours of a race day, and over all the different stages. But for a pregnant woman who is in her third trimester, between the seventh and the end of the ninth month, its energy consumption is doubled, even two and a half. "

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"Nature is well made"

A figure certainly lower than that of the cyclist, but in the case of the future mother, the overconsumption of energy is "permanent", argues Bernard Sablonnière.

"So at this point, the human body would be hard-pressed to do more by continuing to balance the energy between the brain, the organs, and the baby."

Ultimately, it is simply because the body could not take more that the pregnancy does not drag on beyond.

And the specialist commented: "Nature is well done."