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Being married triples the risk of obesity in men, new research suggests.
Experts found the risks of being overweight increase for both sexes when married, but appear to be particularly acute for men.
For men, marriage increased the risk of being overweight by 62 per cent, while for women it was 39 per cent, compared to those who are unmarried.
However, married men were also 3.2 times more likely to be obese than unmarried men, while no such link was found for married women when compared to unmarried women.
The lack of such a finding in women may be due to cultural differences in attitudes towards obesity in men and women, the researchers suggested.
The study also found that getting older increases the risk of being overweight or obese for both sexes.
The research, carried out on couples in Poland, will be presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Spain in May.
Dr Alicja Cicha-Mikolajczyk, from the National Institute of Cardiology, Warsaw, Poland, led the study.
Data was taken for 2,405 people from the Multi-centre National Population Health Examination Survey.
These people were typically aged 50 and 35.3 per cent had normal weight, 38.3 per cent were overweight and 26.4 per cent were obese.
People were asked questions regarding their knowledge about health, any depression and social support (such as frequency of contact with family, friends and relatives).
Some 55 per cent of the group had adequate health literacy and at least moderate social support (50 per cent), while 15 per cent reported depression.
Each year of increased age increased the risk of being overweight by 3 per cent in men and 4 per cent in women, and the risk of obesity by 4 per cent in men and 6 per cent in women.
In women, having inadequate health literacy increased the risk of obesity by 43 per cent, while reporting at least borderline depression doubled the risk of obesity. This was not found in men.
The team concluded: “Age and marital status have undeniable impact on living with overweight or obesity in adulthood regardless of sex.
“In turn, inadequate health literacy and having at least borderline depression were associated with obesity in women.
“It appears from our results that the dissemination of health knowledge and health promotion across the lifespan could reduce the worrying phenomenon of increasing levels of obesity.”
