Obesity Is Contagious, Study Finds - TIME - The Diigo Meta page

• 26 Jul 07
  

  naytanda
  • obesity isn't just spreading; rather, it may be contagious between people, like  a common cold.
  • "You are what you eat isn't the end of the story," says study co-author James  Fowler, a political scientist at UC San Diego. "You are what you and your  friends eat."
  • The best proof that friendship caused the weight gain, says Fowler, is that  people were much more likely to pattern their own behavior on the actions of  people they considered friends
  • Spouses share meals and a backyard, but the researchers found a much smaller  risk of gaining weight — a 37% increase — when one spouse became obese. Siblings  share genes, but their influence, too, was much smaller, increasing each other's  risk 40%. Fowler believes the effect has much more to do with social norms: whom  we look to when considering appropriate social behavior. Having fat friends  makes being fat seem more acceptable.

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