The government’s leading source for health research has spent nearly $3 million on studies seeking to find why lesbians tend to be overweight.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is going on year four of its examination into why nearly three-quarters of adult lesbians are overweight or obese, according to the Washington Free Beacon. The project has so far consumed $2.87 million in taxpayer dollars, after originally being budgeted at $1.5 million.

According to the research, lesbians reportedly have lower “athletic self-esteem” that may contribute to obesity development. Surveys also show that lesbians are more likely to see themselves at a healthy weight when they’re not.

Working from the premise that a “striking interplay of gender and sexual orientation in obesity disparities” exists, one paper produced from the funding concluded that gay and bisexual males had a “greater desire for toned muscles” than heterosexual men.

The study is expected to continue for two more years.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Feds Still Studying Why Lesbians Are Obese (by Elizabeth Harrington, Washington Free Beacon)

Why the Federal Government Spent $3 Million to Study Lesbian Obesity (by Josh Hicks, Washington Post)

Weight Misperception and Unhealthy Weight Control Behaviors Among Sexual Minorities in the General Adolescent Population (by Scott E. Hadland, S. Bryn Austin, Carol S. Goodenow and Jerel P. Calzo, Journal of Adolescent Health)

Lack of Exercise Blamed in Income Disparity of Childhood Obesity (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)