Marriage contributes to obesity

Scientists at the University of Basel, who study health psychology, have partially refuted the widespread belief that a happy marriage has a beneficial effect on human health.

In the course of a statistical analysis of the body mass index (BMI) of married and single people, experts came to the conclusion: married respondents are more likely to be obese than their single fellow citizens.

The study involved over 10 000 people from nine European countries - Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Poland, Russia, Spain and the UK.

The traditional parameter in such cases, BMI, was chosen as a criterion for their tendency to obesity. It is calculated as the ratio of body weight (in kilograms) to the square of a person’s height (in meters).

The World Health Organization has set BMI as the average norm - from 18,5 to 24,99. Anything above 25 indicates the onset of obesity.

According to a Swiss study, the average BMI of a single man is 25,7, and that of a married man is 26,3. Approximately the same spread is observed among the better half of humanity: for an unmarried woman the average BMI is 25,1, for a married woman it is 25,6.

Scientists have found an explanation for this in a more bold and abundant diet that married people consume compared to lonely ones. Another factor contributing to excess weight, is called less attention to the sport that people pay after the wedding.

However, as the authors of the study clarify, the results of their research should be treated with a certain degree of caution, because not only marital status, but also age, genetic characteristics of the body and a host of other factors affect the propensity for obesity.