"Writing in the journal Nature Genetics, the scientists mention another genetic variant that seemed to link red hair colour and freckled skin with women, but not men, losing their virginity later than others. Scientists identified the raft of genes from the DNA of more than 125,000 people aged 40 to 69 enrolled on the BioBank project. The most common age for both men and women losing their virginity was 18. Having drawn up the list of 38 gene regions, the team went on to verify their effects in 250,000 other men and women from Iceland and the US. The scientists go on to show how early puberty - often brought on by poor nutrition and, as a consequence, childhood obesity - has a small but direct effect on the age at which people lose their virginity, and the age they have their first child. Each of these in turn appeared to reduce the person’s chances of doing well in education. “This helps to inform us about future preventative efforts to delay puberty in young children,” Perry said."