KBTV

KBTV:: Are Love-Handles Contagious?

I love to write about dieting in America. Americans are obsessed with their health and our infant mortality rate just hit 37th in the world. Just above Slovenia. We’re fanatical about being thin, and in the past 25 years the number of obese people in this country has DOUBLED.

Sometimes the information in the scripts is so fascinating that I just run the script — it says it all:

“Obesity: Is it Contagious?” … This ground-breaking – potentially landmark – research shows that weight gain may have just as much to do with who your friends are as what you eat and how much you exercise. Some researchers say this study…which is the first if its kind…will “revolutionize” the way people approach weight loss. I found the research so compelling … specifically, its broader societal themes and implications … that I divided it into a two-part series!

The study was conducted by scholars at Harvard and The University of California, San Diego … the findings … remarkable … that if you have a close friend who’s overweight, you’re three times more likely to become obese. And the impact is so strong that distance doesn’t matter — you could live next door to the fat friend … or that that individual could live half way around the world..

The research …which was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine … was led by Dr. Nicholas A. Christakis of Harvard Medical School and James H. Fowler of UC San Diego. The two are the first to document the spread of obesity through a social network. They’ve found that obesity follows the same pattern as contagious viruses such as the flu and AIDS. But it isn’t obesity “germs” that are spreading…it’s a person’s perception of weight. Dr. Christakis explained it this way…a man goes home to spend Thanksgiving with his family. During the meal he notices that his brother has gained some weight, so he concludes that it’s OK to be heavier. You can see already … how the impact of the dynamic … could make the growth … so to speak … exponential.

The researchers began with the philosophy that a person’s norms are set by the people around them … their peers. Just as a person’s attitude towards race or country is determined largely by upbringing … family and friends affect the size of a person’s waistline. And here are the stats … put on your seatbelt. So … who … or which factor … has the biggest influence on a person’s weight? Mutual friends. If one person in a “social network” becomes obese, the chances of the others … in that same social network … succumbing to the same fate of becoming obese … jumps to 171 percent…among siblings … the risk was 40 percent … and between spouses it fell to 37 percent.

Tune in tomorrow for part two, of our ongoing series … “Obesity: Is it Contagious?” … to learn how you might be affected not just by friends … but friends of friends … according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health … a person who becomes overweight increases the odds of obesity in the 100 people connected to him or her … though family or friendship.

To be continued …

posted by rjoyner @ 7:36 PM