Thou Shalt Be Overweight: Religious Involvement Correlated to Obesity

A new study from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine says religiousness and overeating are linked: Study participants who reported attending church weekly, or more frequently, were almost twice as likely to be obese than those who went rarely or never. Researchers aren't entirely sure why praying correlates with BMI, but say it may have to do with the church's potluck eating culture, the near extinction of church-sponsored baseball and basketball leagues, an emphasis on marriage, which can lead to weight gain, and using food as a reward for good deeds. The research, which was presented at a recent American Heart Association conference, tested a group of 2,433 people when they were age 20-32 for cardiovascular disease risk factors like diabetes, hypertension and smoking. They repeated the same tests over the next 25 years and noticed the church link when they were analyzing the data.

Read original story in CNN | Thursday, March 24, 2011