Marriage has impact on obesity, say a new research

“Normal weight people whose spouses went from being normal weight to obese were more likely to become obese,” said Laura Cobb, who led the study as a researcher at John Hopkins University, Baltimore .

According to a report published in english.ahram.org Web site, a recent US study revealed that if one spouse becomes obese, the risk of obesity in the other almost doubles. “This suggests that changes in one spouse are likely to also be reflected in the other spouse, likely because of similar changes in diet, physical activity or other behaviors that impact obesity,” Cobb said via email.

While abundant research have already linked marriage and weight gain, scientists have also firmly established the connection between obesity and heart disease as well in between diabetes and particular cancers.

Starting between 1987 and 1989, researchers followed almost 4,000 couples for up to 25 years. After conducting an initial exam, they had three follow-up visits roughly three years apart, followed by a fifth exam that was conducted between 2011 and 2013.

At the beginning of the study, 23 percent of the men as well as 25 percent of the women were found to be obese. The study revealed that the non-obese men whose wives became obese between visits in the study were 78 percent more likely to become overweight during that period than they would have been had their wives not gained so much weight.

However, the authors acknowledged the shortcomings of the study because a long stretch of time had elapsed between the fourth and fifth exams and also due to the fact that large proportion of people who died or left the study before the final visit, said the Reuters.com report.

It is quite common for married couples to forge common habits over time that influence their weight, said Ivanka Pritchrd, a weight loss researcher at Flinders University at Adelaide in Australia who wasn’t involved in the study.

“When married people get in shape or lose weight, it’s often because one spouse takes the lead and urges the other spouse along,” said Debra Umberson, the director of the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin but was not involved in the study. Like unhealthy habits, positive lifestyle choices can also be contagious in a marriage, she said.

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