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Having an overweight partner could increase your risk of developing diabetes 鈥� especially if you鈥檙e a man. Men are six per cent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes with every single unit increase in their female partner鈥檚 body mass index (BMI).

That鈥檚 what at Emory University in Atlanta and her colleagues found when they analysed health data from just over 7,000 people in England.

Back when the data started being collected 鈥� around the turn of the millennium 鈥� the volunteers had an average age of between 59 and 60, and none had diabetes.

In the years that followed, those that had overweight partners were more likely to develop diabetes. It is well-known that being overweight can increase a person鈥檚 risk of diabetes, but this is the first evidence that having an overweight partner can, too.

We tend to form relationships with people of a similar size and shape to us, but we also adopt each other鈥檚 habits over time, says Nielson. 鈥淲e tend to marry people like ourselves.鈥澛燭his means that people who have overweight partners are also likely to be overweight themselves, helping to explain the link between overweight partners and diabetes risk.

Gender effect

However, when the team took each person鈥檚 own weight into account, there was still a statistical association in heterosexual couples between a wife鈥檚 BMI and a husband鈥檚 diabetes risk. A man whose partner has BMI of 30 is 21 per cent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than a man whose partner has a BMI of 25, for example.

This effect isn鈥檛 seen in women with overweight husbands. This is probably because women have a disproportionate impact on a household鈥檚 diet, as they tend to be the ones doing more of the grocery shopping and cooking, says Nielsen. For example, women who are overweight are also likely to eat unhealthy foods. If her partner eats these too, this might raise his diabetes risk over and above the effect of his own body mass.

When considering a person who is at risk for diabetes, a doctor should asses their partner too, Nielsen says. 鈥淲e should stop just considering people as individuals, and realise that diabetes risk is linked to who we鈥檙e engaging with,鈥� she says.

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