Obesity Contagious
Obesity ‘contagious’, experts say
This report is from BBC Health News.
The study looked at data collected over 32 years
Having a friend, sibling or spouse who is overweight raises a person’s risk of being obese too, US researchers say.
They said data on more than 12,000 people suggested the risk was increased by 57% if a friend was obese, by 40% if a sibling was and 37% if a spouse was.
They argued this showed social factors, such as the body sizes of other people, were important in developing obesity. . . .
“Rather, there is a direct, causal relationship. What appears to be happening is that a person becoming obese most likely causes a change of norms about what counts as an appropriate body size.
“People come to think that it is OK to be bigger since those around them are bigger, and this sensibility spreads.”
The study was actually about heart disease, and this result was a by-product of the study.
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Amazina
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Here There and Everywhere 
Don’t you find it alarming that personal responsibility tends to just fly out the window with “findings” such as this? Statistics are useful, but should not be presented in a way so as to be used as an excuse. This was a “duh” factor – I think we all know how social norms work. Stick with the heart disease study. (I might have been more impressed if statistics had also been included whether or not the same relational statistics held true for skinny people.) Had the same squinty-eyed reaction to another recent NIH-funded study that reported “high school girls felt peer pressure to be thin.” Please – they spent $ on figuring that out??? Some PhD skipped high school and missed this?! (Sorry, on a roll today….)
Whoa! Sparkle! Tell us how you REALLY feel!
Yeh, it is funny. Isn’t there an old old saying in just about every language about birds of a feather flocking together?