Posted on 02/21/2019 7:17:35 PM PST by Gamecock
Lesbian and bisexual women are at increased risk of being overweight or obese compared to heterosexual women, according to new research from the University of East Anglia and UCL.
Gay men however are less likely to be overweight than their straight counterparts, and more at risk of being underweight.
The study, published today in the Journal of Public Health, is the first to investigate the relationship between sexual orientation and body mass index (BMI) using population data in the UK.
The findings support the argument that sexual identity should be considered as a social determinant of health.
The research team pooled data from 12 UK national health surveys involving 93,429 participants and studied the relationship between sexual orientation and BMI.
Lead researcher Dr. Joanna Semlyen, from UEA's Norwich Medical School, said: "We found that women who identify as lesbian or bisexual are at an increased risk of being overweight or obese, compared to heterosexual women. This is worrying because being overweight and obese are known risk factors for a number of conditions including coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer and early death.
"Conversely, gay and bisexual men are more likely than heterosexual men to be underweight, and there is growing evidence that being underweight is linked to a range of health problems too, including excess deaths.
"We also found that gay men are significantly less likely than straight men to be overweight or obese.
"This study demonstrates that there is a relationship between sexual identity and BMI and that this link appears to be different for men and women.
"There are a number of possible explanations for these findings. We know that sexual minority groups are more likely to be exposed to psychosocial stressors, which impacts on their mental health and their health behaviours such as smoking and alcohol use and which may influence their health behaviours such as diet or physical activity.
"These stressors include homophobia and heterosexism, negative experiences that are experienced by the lesbian, bisexual and gay population as a result of their sexual orientation identity and are known to be linked to health.
"Until 2008, sexual orientation wasn't recorded in health surveys. This means that until recently it has not been possible to determine health inequalities affecting lesbian, gay and bisexual people.
"Continued collection of data on sexual orientation identity within national health surveys allows us to measure the health of sexual minorities.
"We hope that policy makers and clinicians will be able to use this fresh evidence to provide better healthcare and tailored advice and interventions for lesbian, gay and bisexual people. We need longitudinal research to understand the factors underlying the relationship between sexual orientation and BMI, and research to understand more about being underweight, especially in this population."
inappropriate remark was self deleted here.
Or is it that overweight women are at higher risk of becoming “Lesbians by default” because no man wants them?
(Oh, and In Before the ‘It’s Not Like In the Movies’ pic)
Carpet is fattening
Shocked. Just shocked.
OR.....”overweight women at increased risk of being Lesbian and bi.....”
No ****. Im shocked.
L
I always thought you could only die once.
Then again, the Buddha was no string bean.
You mean that is all they should be concerned about? HaHaHaHaHa...
But at least on his deathbed, he received Total Consciousness.
Yet another heartbreaking consequence of the Donald Trump Hell Regime.
That wasn’t the Buddha. That was Karl from Caddyshack.
Cause or effect?
Seems like there is a new ‘Study’ being funded every year.
What’s wrong, they don’t like the answers previous studies have disclosed?
I’ve noticed this but I never said anything because I didn’t want to be called a homophobe. LOL.
Or maybe that overweight women are more likely to be lesbian.
Give us a hint. I am not sure? :)
Wasn’t there a study some years ago, which concluded that women’s boyfriends and husband’s caused them to gain weight?
I mention because those were heterosexual women with men in their lives. The men somehow caused them to get fat .
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.