Can Church Really Make You Fat?

Post by Yolanda Adams in Elev8 Health


Many religions condemn overeating and laziness. But new research finds that people who frequently attend religious services are significantly more likely to become obese by the time they reach middle age.


The study doesn’t prove that attending services is fattening, nor does it explain why weight might be related to faith. Even so, the finding is surprising, especially considering that religious people tend to be in better health than others, said study author Matthew J. Feinstein, a medical student at Northwestern University in Chicago.
“It highlights a particular group that appears to be at a greater risk of becoming obese and remaining obese,” he said. “It’s a group that may benefit from targeted anti-obesity interventions and from obesity prevention programs.”

Scientists have been studying links between religious behavior and health for years, and have found signs that there’s a positive connection between the two. The studies suggest that religious involvement — whether it’s private or public — is linked to things like better physical health, less depression and more happiness, said Jeff Levin, director of Baylor University’s Program on Religion and Population Health.

But researchers have also found signs that people who attend services put on more weight. In the new study, which was released Yesterday at an American Heart Association conference in Atlanta, researchers sought to follow people over time to see what happened to them. They examined a previous long-term study that tracked 2,433 people who were aged 20 to 32 in the mid-1980s.

Most of the participants were women, and 41 percent were black.
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