Scientists reveal what your butt shape really says about your health

There's something about your butt which could be a clue about your health.

It's one of the most obsessed-over muscles in the body for a whole variety of reasons which we won't get into here, but one particular thing about your bum is a big factor.

Your 'other cheek' - better know as the gluteus maximus - is the largest muscle in the body, sitting at the top of your legs where they connect to the pelvis.

Given that it has to help move our legs and connects between the pelvis bone and the femur, two very large bones, this is maybe not surprising. However, it's not whether you have a certified dump truck or not so much a cake as a bun, that's the factor at play here.

And no, it's not what comes out of it either, though that can obviously also tell you a fair bit about your health.

Your bum could be a sign of your health (Kathrin Ziegler/Getty)

No, it's the shape of the derrière, its 'ass-pect' if you will, which makes all the difference according to a new study.

This associated particular shapes of the gluteus maximus with certain health conditions.

You can tell a lot about someone's fitness by their muscles, but the study found that when people's fitness was measured, those with higher fitness levels had a particularly shaped butt.

Study co-author Marjola Thanaj is a senior research fellow at the University of Westminster’s Research Centre for Optimal Health, and said: “People with higher fitness, as measured by vigorous physical activity and hand grip strength, had a greater gluteus maximus shape, while ageing, frailty and long sitting times were linked to muscle thinning."

The study's findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago in December, and analyzed some 61,000 MRI scans from a UK health database.

The shape of your bum is a sign of your health (Aufa Fahmi/Getty)

Another interesting aspect was that while a differently-shaped behind could have been a sign of Type 2 diabetes, the signs were different in men and women.

For men, the correlation showed that muscles would shrink, but in women, the muscles were enlarged for the same condition, highlighting how important it is that doctors are aware of how symptoms can differ according to sex.

Thanaj said it can highlight that they can have 'very different biological responses to the same disease'.

Tanya Becker, co-founder of Physique 57, told the New York Post about how working on your glutes can be very good for you.

“While full-body strength training is essential, focusing on your glutes, the largest muscle group in your body, deserves special attention,” she said.