Obesity and attending religious events linked, study finds

[Arnold]

Obesity and attending religious events linked, study finds
BY STEFANO ESPOSITO Staff Reporter

Warning: Spending too much time at church may be harmful to your health.

A new study has found that young adults who frequently attend religious activities are 50 percent more likely to become obese by middle age compared with those who don???t take part in any religious events.

???We don???t know why frequent religious participation is associated with development of obesity, but the upshot of these findings highlight a group that could benefit from targeted efforts at obesity prevention,??? said Matthew Feinstein, the study???s lead investigator and a fourth-year student at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. ???It???s possible that getting together once a week and associating good works and happiness with eating unhealthy foods could lead to the development of habits that are associated with greater body weight and obesity.???

The study tracked 2,433 young men and women for 18 years in Chicago, Minneapolis, Birmingham, Ala., and Oakland, Calif.

In the study, ???frequent??? religious participation meant attending at least one event per week. Most, but not all of the participants, were Christians ??? reflecting the dominant religion in the United States, Feinstein said.

Courtney Parker, the catering manager for the 20,000-member Apostolic Church of God in Woodlawn, said he???s not entirely surprised by the study???s results. Parker suspects there may be a historical connection between over-eating and going to church. In years gone by, so many things were taboo ??? but not eating, Parker said.

Years ago, ???church services ran long,??? Parker said. ???So the first thing you do is go eat, and then you go to sleep.???

Parker said Apostolic has made a point in recent years of serving healthy food at church events. So you???re more likely to see baked fish or chicken, rather than pizza, on the menu.

Feinstein said the study???s results shouldn???t be a cause for alarm because previous studies have shown that regular churchgoers tend to smoke less, have better mental health and live longer than those who don???t go to church.

Obesity and attending religious events linked, study finds - Chicago Sun-Times

 

[Arnold]

Are the Religious Prone to Obesity?

Study found regularly attending services was linked to raised risk in middle age
By Randy Dotinga - HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, March 23 (HealthDay News) -- New research finds that people who frequently attend religious services are significantly more likely to become obese by the time they reach middle age.

The study doesn't prove that attending services is fattening, nor does it explain why weight might be related to faith. Even so, the finding is surprising, especially considering that religious people tend to be in better health than others, said study author Matthew J. Feinstein, a medical student at Northwestern University in Chicago.

"It highlights a particular group that appears to be at a greater risk of becoming obese and remaining obese," he said. "It's a group that may benefit from targeted anti-obesity interventions and from obesity prevention programs."

Scientists have been studying links between religious behavior and health for years, and have found signs that there's a positive connection between the two. The studies suggest that religious involvement -- whether it's private or public -- is linked to things like better physical health, less depression and more happiness, said Jeff Levin, director of Baylor University's Program on Religion and Population Health.

But researchers have also found signs that people who attend services put on more weight. In the new study, which will be released Wednesday at an American Heart Association conference in Atlanta, researchers sought to follow people over time to see what happened to them. They examined a previous long-term study that tracked 2,433 people who were aged 20 to 32 in the mid-1980s.

Most of the participants were women, and 41 percent were black.

After adjusting their statistics to take into account factors such as race, the researchers found that 32 percent of those who attended services the most became obese by middle age, Feinstein said.

By contrast, only 22 percent of those who attended services the least became obese.

What might explain obesity among those who attend services regularly? There are plenty of theories.

Levin said one possibility is that those who attend services, along with activities such as Bible study and prayer groups, could be "just sitting around passively instead of being outside engaging in physical activity."

Also, he said, "a lot of the eating traditions surrounding religion are not particularly healthy; for example, constant feasts or desserts after services or at holidays -- fried chicken, traditional kosher foods cooked in schmaltz (chicken fat), and so on."

There's another question: Why might religious people be obese yet still have good health? The fact that fewer are smokers might help explain that, Feinstein said.

Whatever the case, he said, the study points to the role that places of worship could play in reducing obesity.

"They can become part of the solution," explained Dr. Daniel P. Sulmasy, a professor of medicine and ethics at the University of Chicago, perhaps by increasing awareness of obesity and holding health fairs.

"Pastors, especially those in poor neighborhoods, could champion programs for more fresh produce and less fast food in their neighborhoods," Sulmasy added.

SOURCES: Matthew J. Feinstein, M.D., medical student, Northwestern University, Chicago; Jeff Levin, Ph.D., professor, epidemiology and population health, and director, Program on Religion and Population Health, Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University, Waco, Texas; Daniel P. Sulmasy, M.D., Ph.D., professor, medicine and ethics, University of Chicago; March 23, 2011, American Heart Association Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism Conference 2011 and 51st Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention Annual Conference, Atlanta

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/651145.html

 

[Dale Mabry]

You would figure that since there is a direct link between stress and obesity that this would be the case. I would imagine getting ritualistically finger-banged in the asshole by your priest to be a very stressful event.

 

[PainandGain]

LOL LOL LOL @ Thread title alone.

That's good shit.

 

[DOMS]

And, as always, no link to the original "study."

Here's another headline: Douchebaggery and being atheist linked, study finds

 

[Arnold]

And, as always, no link to the original "study."

I checked back on both articles and there was no link, just this:

OURCES: Matthew J. Feinstein, M.D., medical student, Northwestern University, Chicago; Jeff Levin, Ph.D., professor, epidemiology and population health, and director, Program on Religion and Population Health, Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University, Waco, Texas; Daniel P. Sulmasy, M.D., Ph.D., professor, medicine and ethics, University of Chicago; March 23, 2011, American Heart Association Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism Conference 2011 and 51st Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention Annual Conference, Atlanta

 

[DOMS]

I checked back on both articles and there was no link, just this:

OURCES: Matthew J. Feinstein, M.D., medical student, Northwestern University, Chicago; Jeff Levin, Ph.D., professor, epidemiology and population health, and director, Program on Religion and Population Health, Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University, Waco, Texas; Daniel P. Sulmasy, M.D., Ph.D., professor, medicine and ethics, University of Chicago; March 23, 2011, American Heart Association Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism Conference 2011 and 51st Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention Annual Conference, Atlanta

Which tells me nothing about the study. How was it conducted? How large was the sample? What was the control group?

And just because it lists "American Heart Association Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism Conference 2011" doesn't mean that they used the information correctly. Hell, it makes it sound like they didn't do a real study. It sounds more like they took a bunch of separate, perhaps even non-related, data to "prove" something.

 

[Dale Mabry]

And, as always, no link to the original "study."

Here's another headline: Douchebaggery and being atheist linked, study finds

Who's an atheist?

 

[Arnold]

Which tells me nothing about the study. How was it conducted? How large was the sample? What was the control group?

well, seeing as I did not write the articles I have no fucking clue.

 

[KelJu]

Which tells me nothing about the study. How was it conducted? How large was the sample? What was the control group?

And just because it lists "American Heart Association Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism Conference 2011" doesn't mean that they used the information correctly. Hell, it makes it sound like they didn't do a real study. It sounds more like they took a bunch of separate, perhaps even non-related, data to "prove" something.

Although I agree that there is missing critical information here, this is one study I don't have to see the numbers to believe. You want to see fat and dumb people, take drive though the southern bible belt. Holy fuck me Freddy! Those are the fattest, dumbest mother fuckers I have ever seen.

Alabama and Mississippi are two of the most fundamentalist christian states in the country. Guess which states are also the two of the most obese? Guess which states are in the bottom five in the lowest ranking educational statistics? Guess which two states are in the bottom five for being having the unhealthiest population?

The joke back home was that no matter how thin and pretty a southern baptist girl is when you marry her, she will be a 300lb ogre in just a few years.

 

[PainandGain]

well, seeing as I did not write the articles I have no fucking clue.