Marital bliss could give you love handles

COUPLES in happy marriages are likely to pile on the kilos, a study claims. The research, involving 169 newly wed couples, found that the more content they were in their relationship the more weight they gained.

Over a period of four years, the couples were regularly asked to rate their satisfaction with their marriage and their weight and height were measured.

The study found that for each unit rise in satisfaction, on average, men and women gained one-10th of a body-mass index unit every six months — the equivalent of 500g a year for a woman who is 1.6m tall and weighs 54kg.

Researchers suggested that those who were happy with their partners might be less likely to worry about their figures, because they were not motivated to look elsewhere for love.

Andrea Meltzer of the Southern Methodist University, Dallas, said: “On average, spouses who were more satisfied with their marriage were less likely to consider leaving their marriage and they gained more weight.

“In contrast, couples who were less satisfied in their relationship tended to gain less weight over time.”

Couples who stayed together tended to put on weight, whereas divorce was associated with shedding the kilos.

“These findings suggest that people perhaps are thinking about their weight in terms of appearance rather than health,” Meltzer said.

The study suggests that young couples should be educated to think about weight as a health issue.

“By focusing more on weight in terms of health as opposed to appearance, satisfied couples may be able to avoid potentially unhealthy weight gain.”— © The Daily Telegraph, London