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Wedded to weight gain? New research shows a shocking link between marriage and excess pounds.
A team from the National Institute of Cardiology in Warsaw, Poland found that tying the knot can, in fact, make you overweight or obese — but it’s not the same for men and women.
For men, marriage triples the risk of obesity — and increases the risk of being overweight by 62%.
Conversely, marital status had no impact on obesity risk for women, but it did increase the risk of being overweight by 39%.
The team also found that each year of age increased the risk for weight gain in both sexes.
The US has the highest rates of obesity among high-income countries, with about 42% of men and 46% of women considered obese in 2021.
Obesity increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases and several cancers. There were 172 million obese and overweight adults over 25 in the US in 2021 — 214 million are expected by 2050.
In this latest round of research, study authors analyzed data from 2,405 people (roughly half women, half men), with a median age of 50. Of this population, 35.3% were normal weight, 38.3% were overweight, and 26.4% were obese.
While getting hitched equated to packing on the pounds for both sexes, a stronger link was found between marriage and obesity in men, with wedded men 3.2 times more likely to develop obesity than bachelors.
Study authors found no significant difference in obesity between married and unmarried women; they attribute this discrepancy to gendered attitudes towards obesity in men versus women.
This information echoes the findings of a previous study which found that men are more likely than women to gain weight after marriage.
That study, published in the journal Economics & Human Biology specifically found that getting hitched had a significant positive effect on body mass index (BMI) among males within the first five years of saying “I do.”
The experts noted that this spike in BMI came as men tended to eat more and exercise less as their marriage continued.
Previous research has found that married individuals tend to have significantly higher BMI than singletons, finding that the more satisfied someone is in their intimate relationship, the more likely they are to become obese — a phenomenon commonly referred to as “happy fat.”
In terms of age as an independent risk factor, the latest study found that each year of increased age raised the risk of being overweight and the risk of obesity in both sexes.
Further, the study found that women living in communities of less than 8,000 people were 46% more likely to live with obesity and 42% more likely to be overweight. Meanwhile, in men, this living situation did not increase the risk for either condition.
The research team is eager to explore the social, psychological, and environmental factors that influence weight gain in women compared to men.
“Age and marital status have an undeniable impact on living with overweight or obesity in adulthood regardless of sex,” said study authors.
