Obesity Greatly Harms Sex Life, Research Shows

Forget heart disease, diabetes and back problems.

Researchers have identified a consequence of obesity that might finally get people’s attention — sex. Obesity greatly impairs sexual quality of life for men and women, Duke University Medical Center researchers found in a quality of life study of about 1,200 participants, affecting enjoyment, desire, frequency of sex and even mechanics. Two-thirds of obese people seeking treatment reported sexual impairment in at least one of four areas, compared with about 5 percent of normal weight people. In some cases, obese people are 25 times more likely to report sexual problems, according to the Duke study. The results were presented Monday in Las Vegas at the annual meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity. Obese people report sexual problems such as lack of desire, lack of enjoyment, avoiding sex and performance difficulty. Overall, women experienced more difficulties than men among both weight groups, but the gender differences were small compared with the disparity between the obese and normal weight study populations. Martin Binks, director of behavioral health at the Duke Diet & Fitness Center, and Ronette Kolotkin, a clinical psychologist at Duke University, analyzed a quality of life survey used over several years at the Duke Diet & Fitness Center to see whether sexual problems occurred more frequently in obese people. In addition to analyzing the responses from 506 obese people seeking treatment, the researchers also looked at 422 obese and 282 normal weight people who weren’t seeking to lose weight. Two percent of the normal weight group reported sometimes, usually or always feeling no desire for sex, compared with 50 percent of obese treatment seekers. Close to half of the obese treatment seekers — 42 percent — said they sometimes, usually or always had sexual function problems, and 41 percent said they avoided sex. For the normal weight group, the responses were 1.8 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively. The differences between the obese people and normal weight people was shocking, Binks said. “That either group of people reports these problems at such an alarming rate is something to really look at,” Binks said. He cautioned, however, that the results are preliminary and very broad. “There are limitations,” Binks said. “Several things play into this — arousal, desire, body image. It really warrants further study to start figuring out what’s generated these differences.”