Sodden thought for those of you selling weight loss products…obesity’s contagious, reports new study..
From the Harvard Medical School..
“One day I said, ‘Maybe it really is an epidemic. Maybe it spreads from person to person.”
DR. NICHOLAS CHRISTAKIS, of Harvard Medical School, on his finding that people were most likely to become obese when a friend became obese. (New York Times 7.25.007 PDF of article here
So does that mean people will also become slinkier when a friend loses weight?
That was a very interesting article. I was especially puzzled by the fact that it didn’t matter if the friend lived hundreds of miles away.
As for my personal experience, my best friend was obese. I was around her for 14 years and never gained a pound. So I don’t necessarily agree with everything that article said. I think it has a lot to do with genes as well as such outside influences as stress, not excercising and eating habits.
Can it work in the opposite way and make people become slinkier when a friend loses weight? Yes, I believe that would work. At least for me it would. I am a very competitive person and if I was overweight and my friend would slim down, that would make me work on my weight as well.
Have a fantastic day!
Ilka Flood
http://www.JustDoItWithBooks.com
Actually, I am weight conscious and if my friends gain weight, it just makes me more conscious of my own weight.
I think it depends on the person and what they see as an acceptable body weight for themselves.