News Dud
04-29-2007, 01:04 PM
REUTERS
Lesbians are twice as likely as heterosexual women to be overweight or obese, researchers said.
The report, in the American Journal of Public Health, is one of the first large studies to look at obesity in lesbians.
Ulrike Boehmer of the Boston University School of Public Health and colleagues looked at a 2002 national survey of almost 6,000 women, and found lesbians were 2.69 times more likely to be overweight and 2.47 times more likely to be obese.
"Lesbians have more than twice the odds of [being] overweight," the authors wrote.
This would put them at a higher risk for diabetes and heart disease, among other ailments.
"Our findings indicate that lesbian sexual identity is linked to a greater prevalence of overweight and obesity," the authors wrote in the study, released this week.
They reviewed smaller studies that have suggested a higher prevalence of obesity among lesbians.
"The results of these studies indicate that lesbian women have a better body image than do heterosexual women," they wrote.
But the authors placed little confidence in the idea that lesbians were more muscular than straight women, and thus more likely to have a high body-mass index.
I read it: here (http://www.nypost.com/seven/04282007/news/nationalnews/plumping_out__lesbians_face_higher_obesity_risk_na tionalnews_.htm) :shock:
The picture is: here (http://www.homestead.com/prosites-prs/obesewoman.jpg) :shock:
Lesbians are twice as likely as heterosexual women to be overweight or obese, researchers said.
The report, in the American Journal of Public Health, is one of the first large studies to look at obesity in lesbians.
Ulrike Boehmer of the Boston University School of Public Health and colleagues looked at a 2002 national survey of almost 6,000 women, and found lesbians were 2.69 times more likely to be overweight and 2.47 times more likely to be obese.
"Lesbians have more than twice the odds of [being] overweight," the authors wrote.
This would put them at a higher risk for diabetes and heart disease, among other ailments.
"Our findings indicate that lesbian sexual identity is linked to a greater prevalence of overweight and obesity," the authors wrote in the study, released this week.
They reviewed smaller studies that have suggested a higher prevalence of obesity among lesbians.
"The results of these studies indicate that lesbian women have a better body image than do heterosexual women," they wrote.
But the authors placed little confidence in the idea that lesbians were more muscular than straight women, and thus more likely to have a high body-mass index.
I read it: here (http://www.nypost.com/seven/04282007/news/nationalnews/plumping_out__lesbians_face_higher_obesity_risk_na tionalnews_.htm) :shock:
The picture is: here (http://www.homestead.com/prosites-prs/obesewoman.jpg) :shock: