Is fat contagious? Study shows that it's likely . . . look out!

If your friends are fat - watch out, states a recent news article. A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that one of the strongest associations in the spread of obesity is your relationship with obese friends. It's not some new virus that's recently been discovered, the articles go on to say, but the behavioral influence. It seems obesity is socially contagious.

The study was conducted using information gathered from a base of over 12,000 people who had participated in a multi-generational heart study collected from 1971 to 2003. The study showed that if a subject had a friend that became obese, they had a 57% higher chance of becoming obese themselves. That went up to 171% higher chance if both friends identified the other as strong friends. Friendship was apparently the strongest correlation and it didn't matter how far away the friends were. Geographic distance did not have a strong influence on the results. Sibling influence was also ranked highly with an increased 40% chance of becoming obese if another sibling was obese.

The study is located here: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/4/370
One of many articles was in US News and World Report at this link: http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/070725/25fat.htm

The study highlights the network effect on health issues and makes a strong point that our health is influenced by many factors, not the least of which are the role models around us. That powerful influence works both ways it seems, as the study's authors also stated that that same network effect showed up between friends who were losing weight. Health conscious friends improve their health and their friends' health as well.

For those of you who are leading the way to better health in your circle of friends, your friends may soon join you. Said the author of the study, "People are connected, and so their health is connected."