The old cliché that people "let themselves go" after getting married has been given some scientific backing by researchers in Greece.
Married couples were found to be twice as likely to become fat or obese as their single counterparts, according to a new study.
Scientists from Salonica and Ioannina universities found that married women were twice as likely to have weight issues while married men were three times as likely to become fat, the UK's Daily Telegraph
reported.
The study of more than 17,000 couples aged 20 to 70 found that married couples exercised less, had less sex and had worse diets but were more "comfortable" with their lives.
Married couples apparently spend more time eating together, watching TV and ordering takeaways and were therefore more likely to suffer from "abdominal obesity, or belly fat" than single people, who exercised more to stay in better shape in order to find a partner.
Professor Dimitris Kiortsis, one of the study's co-authors who presented their research to the Panhellenic Medical Conference last week, said that the weight problems were directly related to changes in lifestyle after marriage when people "let themselves go".
"The need to hunt for a partner is reduced," he said.
"Stress and anxiety is reduced in a good marriage, there is less smoking, and therefore one's appetite increases."
The study recommended that married couples exercise more, snack less and follow more of a Mediterranean diet, which includes fruit, vegetables and olive oil.
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"If one of the partners decides to go on a diet, then the other partner also often follows," said Professor Dimitris Papazoglou, the other co-author.
"Obesity is the biggest threat to public health in the entire world", he said.
The 2004-05 Australian National Health Survey found that 40.5 percent of adult men and 24.9 percent of women were overweight. Overall, 16.4 percent of adults were reported as obese.
Obesity is measured using the body mass index (BMI). BMI is a weight-to-height ratio, which is considered to be a reasonable measure of body fat to height of most people. It is calculated by dividing body weight in kilograms by the square of height in metres. A BMI greater than 25 is classed as overweight while one greater than 30 is considered obese.
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