Sorry, Bible lovers, but it turns out your affinity for the man upstairs is bad for your health.
Many religions condemn overeating and gluttony. Yet young adults who frequently attend religious activities are 50 percent more likely to turn into obese middle-agers than those with no religious involvement, according to research from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. The study tracked 2,433 men and women over 18 years and provides much stronger evidence that religion may be a predictor of who becomes obese. Differences in age, race, sex, education, income and baseline body mass index couldn’t explain the weight gain. But like previous research, it doesn’t shed light on why the effect is seen.
Here’s an idea: After Sunday mass, don’t celebrate your love for the lord with re-fried beans and gravy with a side of mashed potatoes.
hunnylvr
This isn’t exactly shocking. Consider the average die-hard bible thumper (read: the fundies – graduates of Bob Jones Univ, for example), condemn swearing, smoking, drinking, rock music, movies (yes, your local AMC), dancing, premarital sex, ANY gay sex, and anything else the average person does for entertainment. That leaves them with one social option: eat.
Joetx
Unfortunately, it makes many of them stupid too.
Daez
If this were honestly true, then over 80% of the population would be obese, and there are some really attractive religious people. Hell, religion actually encourages you not to be obese. There are many reasons why a “medical” study would want to target religion, and there are only a few reasons why people are obese. Eating less and moving more would be a lot better advise for weight loss than abandoning your religious faith.
Bill
I hear hanging on a cross for 3 days is a great way to drop some extra pounds. Maybe ‘christians’ should give that a try.
Very, very soon, please.
D Smith
pathetic troll is pathetic… go away daez
Drake
Did Atheists for Anorexia pay for this study?
Mr. Enemabag Jones
Wow, this is bizarre. Ever since my nephew joined an LDS church two years ago, he’s gained about 50 pounds. He was rail thin his whole life, now he’s pretty pudgy. And he’s only 21 years old.
Conversly, ever since my sister left the Catholic church five years ago, she’s lost over 90 pounds.
Gigi
This makes me feel MUCH BETTER! And vindicated.
Mark
Google the bible belt, and the google the diabetes belt and compare the two maps. If religious nuts wanna say being gay gives you Hiv, then ill go ahead and say loving God gives you diabetes.
CJ
More anti-Christian bigotry at Queerty… while Queerty slams anyone who says anything about Islam. Islam, more than American Christianity, is far more violent and destructive to gays. Besides, increasingly, American Christians are slowly becoming more LGBT friendly. It’s happening slowly – but it is happening.
DavyJones
cum hoc ergo propter hoc
Alex
@CJ: Where’s the bigotry? All I see is some snark (about the refried beans, etc), and a repost of a medical study. Pointing out unflattering correlations is hardly bigotry.
And from my personal experience growing up in Texas, spending some time on the East coast, and now living in Cali, I’ve gathered some strong anecdotal evidence that this study’s on the mark.
Shannon1981
Not surprising. Church people love to eat.
divkid
THAT picture. it’s disgraceful.
somebody ought to be VERY ashamed of themselves.
– yes, i’m talkin’ ’bout you miss jeebus.
like, gurlfriend who are you trying to fool? would it kill you to get that cross in the next size up!
also: “the *last* supper” ??? ahem. i’m thinking not (by the look at those hips)
don’t even get me started on the 5 loaves and 2 fishes diet — like hellooo CARB ALERT!
that book you have out, y’know the one with the diet plan and rules and stuff. well thats goin’ right in the trash. you FAIL. phoney!
next time i’m getting my faith-based dietary advice from a real prophet who i can rely on, from a reasonable religion — like… kirsty alley.
[my first holy communion medallion is weeping in my hand:( ]
Johnson
Most of the Christians I know are FAT. Because they believe Jesus will SAVE THEM, they don’t care about their health.
FAT = LAZY
CJ
@Alex:
Where’s the bigotry? What if a particular website consistently looked for ways to attack another group, whether it be Christians, gays, Muslims, etc? It is primarily the accumulative affect – consistently attacking or degrading a particular group. Are all Muslims terrorists? Do all gays have AIDS and have sex in bath houses? It doesn’t matter if a study proves XYZ. What matters is that we develop bigotry and judgement against a group and then find any source, study, opinion or article to further belittle, judge or degrade that group. Nothing positive is said – but anything negative that we can find to say, we’ll say it. Gays and others who have consistently been targets of bigotry should be able to recognize it a mile way. But, apparently not. Queerty, unfortunately, instead of trying to build bridges with those who most often mistreat gays, just retaliates like a child. Lets just sit back and call them names – or look for ways to make fun of them. There is no thoughtful analysis, there is no attempt to mediate, to be productive or to take the high road. Maybe instead of fighting back or promoting more bigotry and hatred we can look for ways to build bridges, bridges that will make this a better world and will advance equality a lot faster than through some of our current methods.
Jeffree
Oreos instead of orgàsms? Maybe it’s sexual repression that causes religious people to overeat so much? Sublimated desire?
Plus the social life of many churches seems be focused on food: picnics, breakfasts, after-service meals, and those “Consume Cookies For Christ” social events.
@DivKid: Where have you been lately? We’ve missed your shiney, shiney prose around here.
[P.s. My “slimming” guru is Wynonna Judd, gooogle her if she is a stranger to you.]
T9r7u2t0h1
Funny how the supposed lovers of science cannot understand that a supposed correlation does not prove causation.
Atheism is simply another prejudice, and the gloating here is comparable to the way homophobes gloat about AIDS in the U.S.
Zee
Huh…I’m Christian and I’m a stick with hair! LOL
B
No. 21 · T9r7u2t0h1 wrote, “Funny how the supposed lovers of science cannot understand that a supposed correlation does not prove causation.”
Sounds like the “Cassandra” troll spouting off again! Had this person actually bothered to read the article QUEERTY linked to, he/she might have seen the following from it:
“Previous research has demonstrated that ‘religious people tend to live longer, smoke less, and have better mental health, and our study does nothing to challenge that,’ he said. ‘The real value of our study, then, is to highlight one health area in which there is room for improvement in the religious community, and which could potentially benefit from targeted obesity prevention and treatment initiatives.’
“Still, it’s a tough crowd to win over. As my colleague Tribune religion writer Manya Brachear pointed on The Seeker, First Lady Michelle Obama introduced the ‘Let’s Move’ public health initiative to congregations last November. But ‘according to a Pew Research survey, 56 percent of white evangelicals frown on the government’s involvement in reducing childhood obesity.'”
T9r7u2t0h1
So, B is still relying on impotent dismissals and bigoted behavior to make up for his personal shortcomings.
Daniel M
@Drake: No, it was Buddhists for bulimia.
Daniel M
@CJ: Did you read the article? Queerty did not conduct the study. The study was done at Northwestern University without giving any reason for the correlation. Queerty only suggested the correlation may be between social eating at the church and obesity.
Daniel M
@divkid: Either you forgot to take your meds or you are on some kind of drugs. Completely incoherent and not funny.
Daniel M
@Johnson: Did someone actually tell you that God will save them from being fat specifically? I don’t believe that, I think that you are full of s#!t. Most of these Christians don’t believe they are going to be saved from being fat, they believe their soul will be saved.
Where do you get off suggesting that FAT = LAZY. There are many medical conditions that can cause weight gain in addition to many medical treatments including steroids that can also lead to obesity. I am not fat at all, however, when I had to take steroids for a medical issue I did gain weight. Luckily, after I was able to stop taking the steroids I was able to work hard and lose the excess weight. You can’t judge fatties just on the way they look, there could always be an underlying reason.
Daniel M
@T9r7u2t0h1: It is not a supposed correlation, there is an actual measured correlation. You are right, however, in that there is no evidence of causation as stated in the study.
There is prejudice in every belief because every belief believes in a set of “rights” and “wrongs” that often conflict with other groups.
Daniel M
@B: What is “the “Cassandra” troll”?
Soupy
Daniel: T9r7 is Cassandra. She goes by different screen names but when you see the sentence “Atheism is a prejudice”, it’s her.
Daniel M
I have an idea, everyone list their best guess for causation. I will start with a few examples!
Christians are more focused on their faith than diet. This leads to less time allotted to cooking so more fast food and higher rates of obesity.
Christians are more likely to be insecure and depressed drawing them to the religion in the first place. This general insecurity and depression leads to poor food choices and obesity.
Christian often look to give back to the community straining their resources, after giving much of their time and money to help others they are unable to buy healthy foods because they are more expensive.
Soupy
It’s because god made tator tots and twinkies too!
Alex
@Daniel M: My first guess is that Christians as a whole place less importance on how sexy they come across. That seems to be the major reason that people worry about minor levels of obesity. I think that likelihood increases once they get married, and even more if they have kids. Are middle-aged Christians more likely than non-Christians to be married with kids?
Soupy
It’s because god created the deep fryer.
John
@CJ: What does that rebuttle have to do with the fact that Christians are lard asses?