'If looks could heal': Study finds babies who look like dad are healthier

Babies who look more like their dads when they are born are more likely to be healthier one year on, a new study has found.

The research, published in the Journal of Health Economics, studied 715 families with babies living with their mother.

The babies who looked more like their fathers at birth were found to be healthier on their first birthday.

Researchers concluded that this is linked to the idea that fathers spent more time with babies who resembled them than fathers of babies who didn't.

In fact, the fathers of babies who resembled them spent an average of 2.5 more days a month with their offspring.

The researchers conclude that more certainty of paternity leads to more time spent with the baby, which meant the baby effectively has more supervision.

The experts also said that all the extra time spent with dad meant the babies were healthier, with fewer cases of asthma and fewer trips to the doctor because of illnesses.

"The main explanation is that frequent father visits allow for greater parental time for care-giving and supervision, and for information gathering about child health and economic needs," said Solomon Polachek, economics professor at Binghamton University and co-author of the study.

"It's been said that 'it takes a village' but my co-author, Marlon Tracey, and I find that having an involved father certainly helps."

The study found that an extra day (per month) of time-investment by a typical visiting father enhances child health by just over 10 per cent of a standard deviation.