Do you squabble with your sister over anything and everything?
Well a new study reveals that siblings may have something new to get work up about - weight gain!
A report published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health reveals that first-born sisters often put on more weight than their younger sisters. The research - which studied 13,000 pairs of sisters over 20 years - found that older sisters are 40% more likely to be obese and 29% more likely to be overweight than their younger sisters.
They also had higher BMIs when they were pregnant, and have a higher risk of diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
The study - which was conducted by researchers from Sweden and New Zealand - doesn’t elaborate on reasons behind older siblings’ propensity for weight gain. But some suggest that parents who perhaps over-feed their first-born are to blame - while other experts believe it might have to do with nutrition levels in the placenta or uterus while the birth mother is pregnant with the siblings, meaning organs reprogram how fat and glucose are stored in the body.
The study is the largest of its kind, and mirrors results that were found in studies of brothers.
And while the results will give younger sisters another reason to gloat this Christmas season, older sisters can rest with the knowledge that while they might be carrying a couple of extra kilos, at least they didn’t have to go through their childhood wearing hand-me-downs, right?!
