A new study shows that those who attend church frequently (at least weekly) as young adults are far more likely than the population at large to be obese in middle age. Julie Deardorff begins her article on the topic for the Chicago Tribune with these words:
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.
So What?
Alice Park’s piece in TIME includes considerable “so what” data from the study’s authors:
While the study did not tease apart which church activities were associated with the most weight gain, the authors speculate that those who attended church were more likely to have a broader social network, which in turn may lead to more opportunities to gather over food and drink.
The results also suggest that religious groups could benefit from targeted diet and exercise programs, says study co-author Matthew Feinstein, to counteract whatever trends may be promoting weight gain among church-goers. The very social forces that may contribute to obesity, in fact, may be helpful in combating weight gain as well. “What is exciting, and why I think the overall message of the study is an optimistic one, is that by virtue of their pre-existing infrastructure and social support networks, religious groups and organizations are pretty well suited to enact health interventions for diet and exercise in a pretty efficient and effective manner,” says Feinstein, a fourth-year medical student at Northwestern. “They have a natural built-in support and follow up system which is extremely important in creating sustainable lifestyle changes.”
Within these and other articles are many possible reasons for this statistical surprise as well as reference to other studies with findings suggesting frequent church goers are healthier than the general population. Nonetheless, this research is worth pondering.
- What do you believe may be some of the contributing causes to much higher rates of obesity in the church group?
- What diet and/or fitness opportunities are offered through the ministry of your local congregation? If those offerings are quite limited in number or scope, how does the church seek to connect members to resources beyond the parish?