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By Matthew Rees

Food and Health Fact #140: Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, and body size

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In depictions of Santa Claus from throughout the world, the modern American version (largely created by the Coca-Cola Company) is rendered significantly heavier (and typically obese) relative to those in other countries. (See “Why Sinterklaas isn’t fat at all, and Santa Claus certainly is.”) In the 1964 TV movie, “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” Mrs. Claus implores Santa to eat, saying, “Whoever heard of a skinny Santa?” Yet the inspiration for Santa Claus – Saint Nicholas – was of “slender-to-average build,” according to the St. Nicholas Center, with a waist of 33.86 inches.

Santa’s size leaves him vulnerable to fatigue, sleep apnea, diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, hypertriglyceridemia, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, according to a 2016 article in JAMDA: The Journal of Post-Acute and Long-term Care Medicine. The article’s author observed of Santa, "Given his obesity, it is quite likely that while flying over the Pacific or Atlantic oceans in his 'miniature sleigh,' his inability to move (similar to what we experience flying coach in modern airlines) will result in deep vein thrombosis and a pulmonary embolus leaving the sled to fly aimlessly through the sky until Rudolph and the exhausted reindeer crash into the ocean."