Public health study spends $1.5million to find out why 'three-quarters of lesbians are obese'

National Institutes of Health awarded funding to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston to examine link between sexual orientation and obesity

Project called of 'high public health significance'



Three-quarters of lesbians in the U.S. are obese, according to details of a new study, which has been given a grant of $1.5million to find out why.



The National Institutes of Health has awarded $1.5 million to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston to examine the correlation between sexual orientation and obesity.



The research, which will also focus on why gay females have obesity issues and not gay males, is described as of 'high public-health significance'.



National crisis: Brigham and Women¿s Hospital in Boston is researching why the lesbian population in the U.S. is 75 per cent obese (stock image)

Researchers said that there has been almost no work done on this social phenomenon.

According to CNS News , the grant is described: 'One area that is only beginning to be recognized is the striking interplay of gender and sexual orientation in obesity disparities.

'It is now well-established that women of minority sexual orientation are disproportionately affected by the obesity epidemic.'

The project will take place over five years - with the grants split $778,622 in 2011 and $741,378 in 2012. It is expected to release its findings by 2016 including future strategies in obesity prevention.



Awards: The National Institutes of Health have provided $1.5million towards the study into sexual orientation and obesity

S. Bryn Austin, a director at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard professor of Public Health, is leading the study.



In the U.S., 26 per cent of people are now obese, with 4 per cent falling into the morbidly obese category.



According to Gallup data from 2012, blacks, those in the age group 45-64 and low-income Americans were all most likely to be obese.

