Fat? Blame your friends.
A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that followed 12,000 individuals over 30+ years suggests that obesity spreads like a virus. If your friends are obese, you become much more likely to become obese yourself. From 57% more likely when only one friend is obese to 171% more likely when mutual friends are obese! The same effect applied for weight loss, but was far less dramatic. It’s going to be hard to replicate this study since it uses data that is hard to come by and was done over such a long span of time, so it will be debated, but it is compelling. “You change your idea of what is an acceptable body type by looking at the people around you,” says Christakis, an investigator in the study.
Story in International Herald Tribune
