Getting fat? It may be because of your friends

Obesity is socially contagious and the risk is highest among friends: Study

LOS ANGELES - IF YOUR friends get fat, chances are you will too, even if you live miles away from each other, researchers have found.

The study, published on Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggests that obesity is 'socially contagious'.

'We were stunned to find that friends who are miles away have just as much impact on a person's weight status as friends who are right next door,' said co-author James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego.

Researchers analysed medical records of people in the Framingham Heart Study, which has been following the health of residents of that Boston suburb for more than half a century.
They tracked records for relatives and friends of nearly 12,067 people and found that a person's chances of becoming obese went up 57 per cent if a friend put on weight. If it is a sibling, the chance increased 40 per cent and if it is a spouse, it increased 37 per cent. In the closest friendships, the risk almost tripled.

After taking into account natural weight gain and other factors, researchers found the greatest influence occurred among friends and not among people sharing the same genes or living in the same household.

On average, the researchers calculated, when an obese person gained 7.7kg, the corresponding friend put on an extra 2.3kg.

Gender also had a strong influence. In same-sex friendships, a person's obesity risk increased by 71 per cent if a friend gained weight.

Dr Nicholas Christakis, a professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School and a principal investigator in the study, says one explanation is that friends affect each others' perception of fatness. When a close friend becomes obese, obesity may not look so bad.
'You change your idea of what is an acceptable body type by looking at the people around you,' Prof Christakis said.

Obesity is a global public health problem. Much of the recent research focus has been on the intense hunt for obesity genes involved in appetite or calorie burning.
The findings could be helpful to treat obese people in groups instead of just the individual, researchers feel.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

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No wonder i am still remaining TAF