Women Suffer More from Obesity than Men

A new study by Dr. Peter Muennig and others of Columbia University finds that women suffer more loss of quality of life due to being overweight than men do. See the summary by Reuters Health.
This unusual study compared the number of perfectly healthy years a person of ideal weight would have to the number an overweight person would have. This makes intuitive sense when you think that being overweight is associated with so many acute and chronic diseases.

Why do women lose more quality of life? No one knows for sure, but the researchers speculate that women experience more stress from their weight because they are confronted with much more social stigma than men. Living a Healthy Lifestyle might mean you need to deal with social perceptions and how they affect your feelings.

Add comment July 28th, 2006