In a new study, European
researchers found obese women had more trouble finding a sexual partner
than their normal-weight counterparts, though the same wasn't true for
obese men, and were four times as likely to have an unplanned pregnancy.
Fat men also reported a higher rate of erectile dysfunction.
Experts interviewed
nearly 10,000 French men and women aged 18 to 69 about their sexual
experiences and analyzed the results based on their Body Mass Index.
Obese women were 30 percent less likely than
normal-weight women to have had a sexual partner in the last year. In
comparison, there was little difference among obese men and
normal-weight men as to whether they found a sexual partner.
The results were
published online Wednesday in the medical journal BMJ. The study was
paid for by several French government agencies.
People with a BMI of
18-24 are considered to have a healthy weight. Those with a BMI of 25 or
above are considered overweight and people with a BMI of 30 or more are
classified as obese.
Previous
studies have found similar trends, but researchers were surprised by
the discrepancy they found between the genders as to how excess weight
affects peoples' sex lives.
"Maybe women are more tolerant of tubby husbands than
men are of tubby wives," said Kaye Wellings, a professor of sexual and
reproductive health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine and one of the BMJ study authors.
Experts said the problems faced by obese people were
probably due to a combination of physical problems linked to obesity as
well as other issues, like low self-esteem and social prejudices.
Obese people are at
higher risk anyway for diabetes, depression and urinary stress
incontinence, all of which can hinder sex. If people are extremely
heavy, they might also have muscular or skeletal problems that make sex
challenging.
The
researchers found that obese women were less likely to ask for birth
control services, and thus, four times more likely to accidentally get
pregnant. Pregnant fat women and their babies also faced a higher risk
of complications and death than normal-weight women.
Dr. Sandy Goldbeck-Wood, a
specialist in psychosexual medicine at a London sexual health clinic,
said physicians must talk to obese women about birth control.
"Doctors need to get over
their own embarrassment and ask the difficult questions," she said.
Goldbeck-Wood was not linked to the study but wrote an accompanying
editorial in the BMJ.
Wellings
and colleagues found obese men and women with a partner were no
different from normal-weight people in terms of how often they had sex.
They also found that
women tended to have partners with a similar body shape. Nearly 70
percent of fat women reported having a partner who was also heavy, while
only about 40 percent of fat men had a similarly proportioned partner.
Some experts said the
growing obesity epidemic in the West would worsen sexual dysfunction
problems.
"This is
not a heart attack or a stroke...but it's an important quality of life
factor and a public health problem," said Dr. Andrew McCullough, an
associate professor of clinical urology at New York University of
Medicine and director of male sexual health at NYU's Langone Medical
Center.
He said the
study's findings should provide another reason for people to trim their
waistlines.
"It
seems like a no-brainer," he said. "If you lose weight, you will feel
more attractive and that could improve your sex life."