Women who suspect that the lean, muscled divorcee they married lets himself go as soon the ring is on his finger have been given scientific backing.
A study of nearly 40 000 American men aged between 40 and 75 found that men who remarry put on weight and exercise less, while those who are divorced or widowed are slimmer and tend to keep themselves fitter.
In compensation, though, divorcees have an unhealthier diet.
They eat more takeaway food, are twice as likely to smoke and drink nearly a third more alcohol than their remarried counterparts.
The study, which appears on Tuesday in a British publication, the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, is authored by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health.
It is based on responses from men in the American health-care sector who provided details about their lifestyle between 1986 and 1984.
Most of the respondents were middle-class professionals, but in a wider population, the effects could be more pronounced among men of lower income and education levels, the authors say.
Previous studies have implicated bachelor status as a risk factor for males. Single men are likelier to suffer depression or negative moods and drink and smoke more than married men are. — Sapa-AFP