A new study has found that obesity, depression and alcohol are an unhappy trifecta for many unhealthy women.
Dr. Carolyn A. McCarty of Seattle Children’s Research Institute and her colleagues conducted the first study to look at how theses three problems relate to each other over years in the life of young adults.
They also found that almost half of the women and the men suffered from at least one of the problems between the ages of 21 and 30. The study was very extensive, as it has been following its subjects since 1985 (they were in the fifth grade at the time).
Looking at men compared to women, at 21-years old, eight percent of women and 12 percent of men had at least two of the three problems. As they got older, having multiple problems became more common, but less so for the men.
Here’s a look at how the unhealthy descent worked for the women in the study:
- Women who were depressed at 27-years old were more than three times as likely to abuse alcohol at age 30
- Women who had alcohol abuse problems at 24-years old were nearly four times as likely to be obese at age 27
- Being obese at 27-years old more than doubled the risk of depression at age 30
- Being in a lower-income bracket was an equal opportunity criteria, as both men and women were at greater risk of depression and obesity
Yale psychologist Dr. Susan Nolen-Hoeksma referred to the three problems as a “toxic triangle” of “eating, drinking and over thinking.”
(via: Yahoo)