Lesbians have been connected to a number of health risks including breast cancer.
A new research now suggests that lesbian women are at greater risk of being overweight than heterosexual women, research suggests.
A study of more than 90,000 British adults also that found gay men are less likely to be overweight than straight men.
The study, published in the Journal of Public Health, is the first to investigate the relationship between sexual orientation and body mass in the UK.
The researchers, from the University of East Anglia, said sexual identity should be considered as a social determinant of health.
They found women identifying as lesbian were 41 per cent more likely to be overweight or obese than straight women, and bisexual women had a 24 per cent increased risk.
Gay men, meanwhile, were 28 per cent less likely to be overweight or obese than straight men. Bisexual men were no more or less likely than heterosexual men to be overweight.
The researchers, however, also found gay men were three times as likely as straight men to be clinically underweight, and bisexual men twice as likely.
Lead researcher Dr Joanna Semlyen, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said: ‘We found that women who identify as lesbian or bisexual are at an increased risk of being overweight or obese, compared to heterosexual women.
‘We need longitudinal research to understand the factors underlying the relationship between sexual orientation and BMI, and research to understand more about being underweight, especially in this population.’