Updated on Friday, October 31, 2008, 00:00 IST

New York, Oct 31: If you think overweight women have less sex than skinny types, think again, for a new study has suggested that it's the other way round.

Earlier studies indicated that obesity curbs sex. But, now researchers in the US have found that fat women have more sex than those with normal weight as one's body mass does not affect one's sexual desire.

They have based their findings on an analysis of data on more than 7,000 women collected in the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth, that looked at the relationship between body mass index and sexual orientation, age of first intercourse, number of partners and frequency of intercourse.

"Our analysis demonstrated that obese and overweight women do not differ significantly in some of the objective measures of sexual behaviour as compared to women of normal weight," said lead researcher Bliss Kaneshiro.

Kaneshiro of Hawaii University said the data showed that overweight women were more likely to report having sexual intercourse with a man, even when researchers controlled for age, race and type of residence.

Ninety-two percent of overweight women reported having a history of sexual intercourse with a man, as opposed to 87 percent of women with a normal body mass index (BMI), according to the survey.

"These results were unexpected and we don't really know why this is the case. This study indicates that all women deserve diligence in counselling on unintended pregnancy and STD prevention, regardless of BMI," Kaneshiro said.

The study has been published in the 'Obstetrics & Gynaecology' journal.

Bureau Report