Obesity Socially Contagious

Alright, I found the article in the New England Journal of Medicine, here is the Abstract

ABSTRACT

Background The prevalence of obesity has increased substantially over the past 30 years. We performed a quantitative analysis of the nature and extent of the person-to-person spread of obesity as a possible factor contributing to the obesity epidemic.

Methods We evaluated a densely interconnected social network of 12,067 people assessed repeatedly from 1971 to 2003 as part of the Framingham Heart Study. The body-mass index was available for all subjects. We used longitudinal statistical models to examine whether weight gain in one person was associated with weight gain in his or her friends, siblings, spouse, and neighbors.

Results Discernible clusters of obese persons (body-mass index [the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters], ≥30) were present in the network at all time points, and the clusters extended to three degrees of separation. These clusters did not appear to be solely attributable to the selective formation of social ties among obese persons. A person's chances of becoming obese increased by 57% (95% confidence interval [CI], 6 to 123) if he or she had a friend who became obese in a given interval. Among pairs of adult siblings, if one sibling became obese, the chance that the other would become obese increased by 40% (95% CI, 21 to 60). If one spouse became obese, the likelihood that the other spouse would become obese increased by 37% (95% CI, 7 to 73). These effects were not seen among neighbors in the immediate geographic location. Persons of the same sex had relatively greater influence on each other than those of the opposite sex. The spread of smoking cessation did not account for the spread of obesity in the network.

Conclusions Network phenomena appear to be relevant to the biologic and behavioral trait of obesity, and obesity appears to spread through social ties. These findings have implications for clinical and public health interventions.

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/4/370

I think it is of importance to see what is not included in this article:

IT DOES NOT SAY THAT FAT OR OBESE PEOPLE ARE NOT PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR WEIGHT. If you honestly, HONESTLY, don't think that social influence has effects on you, you might as well start arguing against the germ theory of disease.

oh no, humans are all super unique individuals, I'm me, the ghost in the shell with total 100% control and awareness of everything I do all the time because I am the conscious being. 🙄

Originally posted by botankus
Ooh, baby, I'm picturing me, you, and a truckload of Canola Oil.

*licks lips..lol*

Originally posted by Rogue Jedi
techno never really was my cup of tea.

🙁

unfortunate. I think it is the best thing since sliced bread 🙂

Originally posted by LethalFemme
I know I love how you can sit on you ass and eat for like 5 years straight and then see the news and find out it's because of your fat friend next to you or because there's a little too much salt on your chips.

😆

And then you sue McDonalds 😆

So fat people have cooties or something?

Originally posted by inimalist
🙁

unfortunate. I think it is the best thing since sliced bread 🙂

This should be done in a PM but I don't know if you accept PM's...

Deathchant is a record label..I didn't check on the others...e-mail me some songs/song names from the deathchant label that you like...

I didn't even look into bloodyfist...my e-mail is in my profile...click my name and then badda boom.

thanks

Originally posted by LethalFemme
New study "shows" being obese may be much more than stuffing your face. Apparently having an obese person in your life raises your chances. Now while I agree that there is a possibility that habits of other especially those close to us may rub off on us I also kinda feel that people are just looking for excuses. So what's you thoughts on this?

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070725/obesity_contagious_070725/20070725?hub=World]

BULLSHIT!

im with you, people are responsible for their own actions. If living with a morbidly obese person inspires you to eat more, you are a broken person who deserves to have your arteries clogged. I regret eating a salad when i see a chunky ass walking down the street.

If living with a fat waste of space influences one to eat more, Why doesnt living with a healthy person influence a fat piece of shit to stop eating less? Theory makes no god damn sense...just more extreme liberal bullshit trying to make being fat against the law

how cute /sigh

Originally posted by ragesRemorse
BULLSHIT!

im with you, people are responsible for their own actions. If living with a morbidly obese person inspires you to eat more, you are a broken person who deserves to have your arteries clogged. I regret eating a salad when i see a chunky ass walking down the street.

If living with a fat waste of space influences one to eat more, Why doesnt living with a healthy person influence a fat piece of shit to stop eating less? Theory makes no god damn sense...just more extreme liberal bullshit trying to make being fat against the law

Why are you bashing fat people and liberals ?

Originally posted by Goddess Kali
Why are you bashing fat people and liberals ?

i had a bad day 🙁

im all about people turning into fat mounds gluttony, its their choice. I just get pissed when some study tries to compensate for the x factor that is personal responsibility. People should have the right to shovel what ever tpe of shit they deem fine into their mouths. I fear however, obese people will lose rights or have to pay societal consequences in the future. Dont have a problem with liberals or conservatives. I fear and loath the extremes on both sides though, and extremem iberals are usually behind radical idea's that weaken rights. Extreme conservatives are usually behind the act of shoving their views down my throat telling me to get on the bus or get under it.

Originally posted by ragesRemorse
i had a bad day 🙁

im all about people turning into fat mounds gluttony, its their choice. I just get pissed when some study tries to compensate for the x factor that is personal responsibility. People should have the right to shovel what ever tpe of shit they deem fine into their mouths. I fear however, obese people will lose rights or have to pay societal consequences in the future. Dont have a problem with liberals or conservatives. I fear and loath the extremes on both sides though, and extremem iberals are usually behind radical idea's that weaken rights. Extreme conservatives are usually behind the act of shoving their views down my throat telling me to get on the bus or get under it.

Results Discernible clusters of obese persons (body-mass index [the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters], ≥30) were present in the network at all time points, and the clusters extended to three degrees of separation. These clusters did not appear to be solely attributable to the selective formation of social ties among obese persons. A person's chances of becoming obese increased by 57% (95% confidence interval [CI], 6 to 123) if he or she had a friend who became obese in a given interval. Among pairs of adult siblings, if one sibling became obese, the chance that the other would become obese increased by 40% (95% CI, 21 to 60). If one spouse became obese, the likelihood that the other spouse would become obese increased by 37% (95% CI, 7 to 73). These effects were not seen among neighbors in the immediate geographic location. Persons of the same sex had relatively greater influence on each other than those of the opposite sex. The spread of smoking cessation did not account for the spread of obesity in the network.

Conclusions Network phenomena appear to be relevant to the biologic and behavioral trait of obesity, and obesity appears to spread through social ties. These findings have implications for clinical and public health interventions.

The results aren't saying that it isn't the person's responsibility. Look at what it says, it says that there are network factors to obesity and gives stats that show it. The study is not making the moral argument you think it is, it is merely observing a phenomenon

This theory is a crock of shit , environments/people influence some people to certain degrees (Ie : Ghettos , farmlands ect) but fat people turning skinny people into tubs 'o lard ?

Nah

Get that shit off the station son , it's in bad-taste

❌

Originally posted by inimalist
Results Discernible clusters of obese persons (body-mass index [the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters], ≥30) were present in the network at all time points, and the clusters extended to three degrees of separation. These clusters did not appear to be solely attributable to the selective formation of social ties among obese persons. A person's chances of becoming obese increased by 57% (95% confidence interval [CI], 6 to 123) if he or she had a friend who became obese in a given interval. Among pairs of adult siblings, if one sibling became obese, the chance that the other would become obese increased by 40% (95% CI, 21 to 60). If one spouse became obese, the likelihood that the other spouse would become obese increased by 37% (95% CI, 7 to 73). These effects were not seen among neighbors in the immediate geographic location. Persons of the same sex had relatively greater influence on each other than those of the opposite sex. The spread of smoking cessation did not account for the spread of obesity in the network.

Conclusions Network phenomena appear to be relevant to the biologic and behavioral trait of obesity, and obesity appears to spread through social ties. These findings have implications for clinical and public health interventions.

The results aren't saying that it isn't the person's responsibility. Look at what it says, it says that there are network factors to obesity and gives stats that show it. The study is not making the moral argument you think it is, it is merely observing a phenomenon

The study tells us that if you have fat friends, you are at higher risk of becoming fat. It is everyonese responsibility to practice a healthy living. Im just trying to say that the people who become fat from surrounding themselves by fat people are probably not healthily conscious and would have been prone to becoming obese had they not befriended fat people

right, because we are all special and unique individuals.....

🙄

Well now there is supposedly a gene that causes people to have an obese lifestyle. Like if your parents are overweight then there is a very high chance that you will be too. Plus, the food we have today sure isn't helping the situation. I still don't see how having an obese friend would influence someone into becoming obese too. Sometimes a slim person can actually influence an obese person and help them to fight there way to a normal size, if the obese person's will power and determination is strong enough.

Originally posted by whitewolfgurl
Well now there is supposedly a gene that causes people to have an obese lifestyle. Like if your parents are overweight then there is a very high chance that you will be too. Plus, the food we have today sure isn't helping the situation. I still don't see how having an obese friend would influence someone into becoming obese too. Sometimes a slim person can actually influence an obese person and help them to fight there way to a normal size, if the obese person's will power and determination is strong enough.

No. not a gene...may different genes...thousands...millions...there are so many different factors that are involved in one being obese.

However, almost all of the effects can be circumvented...if the person has will power.

Yeah. I'm beginning to wonder just how we discover these things. Will power is a key factor in one's progress toward losing the pounds.

A gene? That's total pants!

I think that it's what you're surrouded by. Like anorexic chat rooms, people their encourage you to be thin and give you motivation. Using an anorexic chat room makes it 8 times harder for you to recover.

I think it's the same for obesity, if you have family/friends that are obesse, eating thousands of calories everyday then your habits will mirror their's and you will be likely to eat the same sort of food as them because your mum will be making you really fattening meals.

Then recovering will be just as hard as anorexia because your stomach will have stretched, rather than shrunk, so you get hungry quicker and want to eat more, so it makes getting thin a lot harder.

Originally posted by ragesRemorse
If living with a fat waste of space influences one to eat more, Why doesnt living with a healthy person influence a fat piece of shit to stop eating less? Theory makes no god damn sense...just more extreme liberal bullshit trying to make being fat against the law

I think the study was meant to suggest that having obese cohorts is just one more factor which subtlely/subconsciously influences people's herd mentality.

People do need to be responsible for the choices they make, but then again, self-indulgent societies tend to give personal responsibility a lot of lip service (or we wouldn't be looking for magic pills to solve our woes).

Originally posted by debbiejo
I just get french fries. 😊

All the time, I talk to people around me about improving their health I encourage their efforts to get into shape. I eat healthy around them...but why are they not losing weight? By the logic of this "study" I should have at least as much of an influence on those around me as a person of fitness as a person who is a person of "obesity".

In fact, I will take this a step further...not very many people ask each other what they ate to get fat or what exercises they chose to avoid to put on those pounds but just about everyday, someone asks me for advice on how to lose weight or to add muscle. Therefore, my influence should be many times greater than that of an obese person...then again, these obese people have many more subconscious "obesity" influences throughout the day than "fitness" ones from just people they know...the flip side to that is the bombardment of the "perfect" human form in the commercial theater.

In fact, this ideal human form is considered very much a positive image and obesity a negative image...so why does the obese one win out?

I have an explanation...it is much easier to be lazy and not eat right than it is to strive to look like a model.