Fat People Are Attracted to Each Other

Fat people choose fat partners and thanks to an epidemic of obesity, the pleasantly plump portions of Western society have greater opportunities at a younger age to find partners, according to a new study.

Scientists have known for years that humans seek out partners with similar characteristics; this common psychological phenomenon is known as assortative mating. It has been proven to play the best match maker in humans, pairing people with similar interests and characteristics, from politics to smoking habits. Previously scientists have drawn no conclusive proof that overweight people are attracted to each other.

The recent discovery, published in the August issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, shows that overweight individuals will look for an overweight partner. This is problematic because children who have an overweight mother and father receive a double dose of the genes that have made them susceptible to piling on the pounds. Excessive weight has been linked to a multitude of health problems including diabetes, thyroid problems, low self esteem and high blood pressure.

The idea that two people in a relationship have similar amounts of body fat is not new since previous studies have shown a link between couples and their body mass indices (BMI), which is an indirect measure of fatness, According to study co author Diane Jackson from the Rowett Research Institute. It has long been suspected that people with a higher BMI may choose partners from a similar class or age group.

The studies authors used measured the fat composition of 42 couples using a technique that employs x rays to directly measure an individuals amount of body fat and compared them to the similar amount in their partners.

How the association came about is uncertain. Some speculate that the social activities of overweight and obese people might coincide, making them more likely to meet each other and get hitched.

In the past most people were married in their early twenties before they were overweight or obese. It would have been impossible to distinguish somebody who was thin from somebody who was thin but could run the risk of getting fat. In the past several decades, we wait longer to get married and shorter to gain weight; this causes potential partners to select each other on the basis of body fatness.

Full text of tudy here: www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/86/2/316
Weight control network statistics: win.niddk.nih.gov/statistics/index.htm