Is this why mostly secular Europe’s citizens are so much skinnier than still religious America’s? Courtney Hutchison reports for ABC News:
Americans who are religious are more likely to be happy, healthy … and hefty?
According to research from Northwestern University, youths of a healthy weight who frequently participated in religious activities were twice as likely to become obese by middle age than their less-religious peers.
Even when controlling for race, sex, education and income — several factors that could independently be affecting likelihood of obesity, this affect remained. Researchers drew on data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study, which tracked weight and a number of physical and behavioral variables, including religious involvement, in more than 2,000 men and women over the past two decades.
“We had previously found that those with high religious involvement were more likely to be obese [as middle-aged or older adults], but we wanted to follow people over time to make sure that people who are religious are more likely to become obese, not that people who weigh more are more likely to turn to religion,” said Mathew Feinstein, lead author of the study and an M.D. candidate at Northwestern University…
[continues at ABC News]
