Obesity "socially contagious"

[MindPower]

Just heard abou this on the way to work this morning. I guess that means fitness is contagious also.

So thanks my friends for making me fit.

Link

Obesity is 'socially contagious,' study finds

Updated Wed. Jul. 25 2007 4:55 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Having a circle of friends who are chubby just might make it more likely you will become overweight yourself. That's the interesting finding from a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The researchers found that if someone's friends becomes obese, that person's chances of becoming obese increased by 57 per cent. Siblings and spouses also have an influence, although a reduced one.

• People whose siblings became obese were themselves 40 per cent more likely to grow obese;
• People whose spouses became obese were 37 per cent more likely to be obese as well.

"This is really quite extraordinary because we also looked at family members and found that friends actually had a stronger influence on your own obesity than family members," study author James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego, told CTV News.
"Our study finds that obesity is socially contagious -- in other words, it tends to spread from one person to another."
Co-author Dr. Nicholas Christakis, a professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, says the findings reinforce the idea that obesity is a collective problem.
"People look around them and see people gaining weight and it might change their attitude about what constitutes an acceptable body size... You might say it's OK to be heavier," Christakis said.
Christakis and Fowler studied the records of 12,067 people living in the mostly white, middle-class town of Framingham, Ma. They had their health and habits regularly monitored, beginning in 1948. In 1971, children and spouses were invited to join the study, even if they had moved away.
Christakis and his team decided to look at the alternative contacts the patients had listed who could be called in case the patients themselves could not be reached for their appointments. In many cases, the alternative contacts were also participants in the study. So the researchers looked to see which friends and relatives were also in the study, and then looked to see who became obese and when.
They found that if someone became obese, their friends were 57 per cent more likely to become obese. If people named one another as contacts, they were 171 per cent, or more than double as likely to become obese if the other did.
It wasn't just direct friends affected: if a person became obese, their friends were more likely to become obese, as were the friends of friends.
"We found that one person's obesity actually influences other people in the network up to three degrees removed --- my friend's friend's friends," said Fowler.
"We were very surprised to see that the effect of one's obesity had such a wide impact on the network."
The findings were the same even if friends lived very far apart from one another. But on the other hand, having an obese neighbour did not affect a person's likelihood of becoming obese -- suggesting that common environments are not to blame.
"So what this is means this is NOT about friends eating together or exercising together; this is about ideas," said Fowler. "This is about the way we think about our bodies, about the way we think about healthy eating and healthy exercise behaviour and how we share those with people with whom we esteem."
"We speculate that what is really going on here is that people have conversations and people exchange ideas of what an appropriate body image is and what appropriate healthy behaviours are and that has either a conscious or unconscious effect."
Fowler notes they also found that not only is obesity "socially contagious," so is fitness.
"Thinness can spread from one person to another, so if you have a friend that becomes thin, that will also increase the likelihood that you will lose weight," says Fowler. "We are very excited by this particular finding because we think... we may have uncovered a tool to help us to reverse that trend."
Dr. David Macklin, the medical director of WeightCare, a group of weight-loss clinics in Toronto, agrees that friends and family can serve as a powerful influence to encourage one to slim down.
"We find that when people start eating better and losing weight, family members start eating better and losing weight. It's a trickle-down effect," Macklin tells CTV.

[Mahler]

Ah, another excuse for the world to use for its lack of control. It's not my fault I'm fat. My friends made me do it. Why isn't intelligence and fitness contageous?

[diamondpete]

nice post thank you. I thin that the firends cirle has an impact on what we consider acceptable body size as the atricle claims, but I would suggest that it also goes deeper and affects what we consider acceptable foods, acceptable or reasonable actions. By this I mean, taking the elevator to the second floor, driving 3 minutes to the ice cream parlor, etc.


I know that this site has helped me through my circle of friends realize that there is nothing wrong with breakfast cereal that tastes like shit (I mean who really liked muesli the first time they ate it), and getting to like it LOL

There is nothing odd about training from midnoght to 1 am because that is the only time I can, in fact it is admirable, not wierd. This cirlce of friends or has a very positive impact on our lives which we probably do not think about that much. So, mindpower, thanks for the post, and the reminder, and everyone, thanks for the support.

[Mark57]

Originally Posted by Mahler

Ah, another excuse for the world to use for its lack of control. It's not my fault I'm fat. My friends made me do it. Why isn't intelligence and fitness contageous?

Originally Posted by from article

"Thinness can spread from one person to another, so if you have a friend that becomes thin, that will also increase the likelihood that you will lose weight," says Fowler. "We are very excited by this particular finding because we think... we may have uncovered a tool to help us to reverse that trend."

Dr. David Macklin, the medical director of WeightCare, a group of weight-loss clinics in Toronto, agrees that friends and family can serve as a powerful influence to encourage one to slim down.

"We find that when people start eating better and losing weight, family members start eating better and losing weight. It's a trickle-down effect," Macklin tells CTV.

Reading R good.

[Mahler]

Originally Posted by Mark57

Reading R good.

I know. I do it frequently. Try reading the title of the article and think what an obese person will take away from what he has read.

Am I that fascinating that you watch what I do constantly to look for mistakes?

[Mark57]

Not even remotely, my friend. So your rant was just regarding the title of the article and not necessarily the content of it? Ok, I understand. Please forgive me, I guess I just assumed that you had actually read the article.

[Mahler]

Please forgive me, I guess I just assumed that you had actually read the article.

I read the article. Look beyond your distaste for me and read my words.
I commented on what the author was obviously promoting in the article. The paragraph about thinness is almost a footnote; an afterthought which, by the way, was why it was not the subject of my comment about "intelligence and fitness." I don't necessarily consider thin and fit to be synonymous. Thin people also don't seem to be looking for an excuse for their bodyweight these days.

Carrying a little extra weight, are ya?

[Phaedrus49er]

Ya know, love is a social disease...

[Mark57]

My distaste for you?

I don't harbor any distaste for you whatsoever, I think you're an awesome individual and an inspiration to many.

Maybe you're just paranoid?

[Ogedei]

Nothing new in the article.

Yes being around a circle of people with X attribute is more likely to make you have X.

Your social network effects the way you think.

Hence they tell you if you wanna me succesful, hang out with succesful people, if you want to lose weight hang out with people who are commited to fitness.

Only makes sense it would work in reverse as well.

Og.

[Charger]

So you think I can use this study as a reason to not spend time with my mother-in-law?

[RacerBill]

I agree with Og. There's even the old saw about "birds of a feather..." Do we really need a study on this topic?

How many times have we seen a family of obese individuals, or a family involved in activity together?

[twinsavsvikingsfan]

Originally Posted by RacerBill

I agree with Og. There's even the old saw about "birds of a feather..." Do we really need a study on this topic?

How many times have we seen a family of obese individuals, or a family involved in activity together?

Hey, Bill! Do you think this plays in with your division party today?

[RacerBill]

Originally Posted by twinsavsvikingsfan

Hey, Bill! Do you think this plays in with your division party today?

Haha!

In all honesty, it's sad the number of obese coworkers I have. I wish the higher-ups would consider some options for better celebrations.

[Ogedei]

Food and eating is such a huge part of how our society celebrates.

I agree we need better ways than having massive feasts or bringing in donuts or whatever. We have to many treats to often on top of what is already probably a bad diet.

Og.

[BeachHead]

Originally Posted by Ogedei

Food and eating is such a huge part of how our society celebrates.

I agree we need better ways than having massive feasts or bringing in donuts or whatever. We have to many treats to often on top of what is already probably a bad diet.

Og.

That's not going to happen. Food will always be a part of celebrating and unless you get rid of junk food altogether, it's going to be the unhealthy stuff.

People just need to be more active. It's the responsibility of all of you health nuts out there to go and push your overweight friends to improve their activity level and thus improve their overall lifestyle.

Sitting around in a circle jerk all the time complaining about the overweight for being overweight is as useless as Mark57's constant instigating.

**EDIT** mommy told me to be more nice.

[Ogedei]

How many times have people come on these boards and asked "My X is overweight, how do I fix them"

To which we respond, "You can't. If they don't want to fix themselves you cannot force them"

People who live a healthy lifestyle can not force others to follow. All we can do is be there to offer advice and encouragment when they ask for it or need it.

The question I ask is WHY is food seen as such a part of celebrating? Why does it have to be this way? When someone leaves the office why do we feel the need to bring in a dozen donuts? If it is Christmas why do we eat a huge meal as well as all the crap that goes around it? Why can't we change it?

[RacerBill]

Originally Posted by Ogedei

The question I ask is WHY is food seen as such a part of celebrating? Why does it have to be this way? When someone leaves the office why do we feel the need to bring in a dozen donuts? If it is Christmas why do we eat a huge meal as well as all the crap that goes around it? Why can't we change it?

Indeed. Food seems inherently related to celebration, but in some cultures protein is the big deal, not sweets -- as we still see in old sayings like "kill the fatted calf" as a part of celebration. That was back in the days when raising livestock was a measure of wealth. Granted, there is no scarcity of meat in our culture so I doubt that will be easy to change.

And even today, Thanksgiving dinner really isn't so awful, if you eat turkey, cranberries, sweet potatoes, even if you limit yourself to a piece of pumpkin pie.

Basically, I think we can do better and celebrate with a meal that's perhaps not 100% perfect, but enjoy the occasional indulgence and perhaps one treat for dessert. But I don't think it's a good idea where the celebration is just tons of empty calories and nothing else.

[GG300]

Did we actually need a study to tell us that if you hang around with people that partake in unhealthy activities you are more likely to partake in them as well. That must be why when I go to a happy hour I tend to drink and in the same way that when I go to a 5k I run. Brilliant I say Brilliant. "Using my best Guiness Guys accent"

[Mark57]

I LUV U 2 BACHNUT!1!1111! OMG LOL