Better-Educated Women Have a Healthier Weight

A new comparison of multi-national data reveals that highly educated women have a healthier average weight than less educated women. In countries where malnutrition is prevalent, better-educated women weigh more, while in wealthier countries with rapidly growing rates of obesity, better-educated women weigh less.

More than half of the adult population is underweight in Bangladesh. In that country, average female body mass increased with every additional year of schooling. In the U.S., where only 1 percent of people are underweight, better-educated women had a lower average body mass index the more education they’d received.

The United States was the only nation surveyed in which better-educated men also had a lower average BMI than less-educated men. In every other country, the average male body mass increased with every additional year of schooling.


Sources:

* Eurekalert April 30, 2008