Fat friends make you fat

[TahitiNut]

Fat friends make you fat

26/ 7/2007

HAVING a fat friend hugely increases the chance of you going the same way, a new study says.

Obesity is 'socially contagious', spreading from person to person in a social network, say researchers.

The study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, says that when a person becomes obese, the chances that a friend of theirs will also become obese increases by 57 per cent.

Researchers from Harvard and the University of California found that a fat person's siblings have a 40 per cent increased risk, and their spouse a 37 per cent increased risk.

The researchers analysed data over 32 years for 12,067 adults who underwent repeated medical assessments as part of a heart study.

<snip>

(Hmmm... why would people eat their friends?)
:silly:

[Der Blaue Engel]

1. I'm hearing this in Susan Powter's voice

Stop the insanity!

[CatWoman]

36. what ever happened to her?

:shrug:

[Der Blaue Engel]

42. Looks like she has some kind of podcast show

http://www.susanpowtershow.com/

The site is a little confusing. :shrug:

[Blue-Jay]

2. Only if you eat them.

[originalpckelly]

4. Who knew fat was a sexually transmitted disease.

:spank:

[TahitiNut]

15. Only if one has friends with benefits.

:silly:

[Gabi Hayes]

3. drunk friends ALWAYS make me drunk.

those bastards are responsible for ALL my bad habits!

they made me vote for Bush twice!

[bananas]

7. Especially when they start the drinking songs. nt

[bananas]

5. Have they shown correlation or causation?

I haven't looked at the study and the media usually misreports these things.

[TahitiNut]

13. We should ask Jack Sprat and his wife.

:silly:

[CoffeeCat]

6. Well geez...

....what are you supposed to do when your friend orders the Onion Blossom, a pitcher of ranch
dressing and a side of chocolate cheesecake...order the side salad? I think not!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

17. It isn't as simple as all that. The report also said that fat friends who live a distance from you

will make you fat too.

[CoffeeCat]

20. I wonder if the same is true with thin friends?

Do thin friends make you thin?

I guess it intuitively makes sense. Many people who are overweight, use food
like an alcoholic uses booze. If someone is depressed or upset, it makes sense
that their close friends might be dealing with similar issues--and maybe the
food addiction becomes a social addiction well--kind of like with smokers who
light up together.

I'm sorta thinking out loud, but I can understand how emotional eating could
be psychologically contagious. It's a very easy habit to fall into when you
are depressed, anxious or dealing with loads of stress.

[TahitiNut]

8. With friends like that, who needs enemas?

:silly: :rofl:

[BlooInBloo]

9. Every good DUer knows that there is NOTHING that explains fat.

[Marr]

35. Hehehe.

I know what you mean.

[EFerrari]

10. The economy must be much worse than I knew!

lol

[Swamp Rat]

11. So instead of one castaway as a hamburger and the other as a hot dog,

both castaways are hamburgers. :9

Entire cartoon movie here FREE!: :D
http://tesla.liketelevision.com/liketelevision/tuner.php?channel=637&format=movie&theme=guide

[cynatnite]

12. Does this mean I can sue my fat friend for making me fat? n/t

[smalll]

14. lol I was wondering when this was going to make it over here from LBN -

why should the Elbee-Enners get all the fun?
Yep, it turns out after all that "no fat chicks" isn't a misogynistic insult, it's sound medical advice!

:sarcasm: or at least, half-:sarcasm: I'll have to say that the community-of-size hasn't come across too well recently what with their crazed defense of diet colas over the past few days.

[bananas]

16. Misery loves company, study finds

A new Hahvahd study finds that people who are miserable tend to have acquaintances who are also miserable.
"It's almost as if the old adage that 'misery loves company' is true", said one of the overweight alcoholic suicidally depressed researchers.
"I need new friends!" he exclaimed.

[BlooInBloo]

18. To *quantify* it, using the intellectual perspective of virology is interesting and valuable.

[bananas]

23. Is the intellectual perspective of virology transmitted like a virus?

If people disinfect themselves with alcohol when reading message boards,
will they become more or less intellectual?

[BlooInBloo]

25. Sigh.

[FloridaJudy]

19. I like to hang out with *really* fat people

They make me look good by comparison.

[smalll]

21. This new discovery could revolutionize aid efforts across the world -

we don't need to pledge to send money to buy food for Darfur or Ethiopia when Sally Struthers asks us to. We just need to get ol' Sally to live amongst the famine-stricken 24-7-365. Not just her. Imagine the power we could unleash the next time we extricate some 1,000-pound man from his home by bringing in the fire department and knocking down walls - load him up on a C-130 transport, and send him out to the third world. Why, such a man ensconced in a central location could cure hunger in one entire province of Burkina Faso just through his potent fat-force. He'd just have to sit around all day, like Jabba the Hutt, only benevolent-like.

[AtomicKitten]

22. those bastards

[Manifestor_of_Light]

24. Fat can run in families.

If ya got a metabolic disorder, like autoimmune disorders such as diabetes and hypothyroidism.

I DO NOT STUFF my face, in spite of what skinny DUers might think.

[Lilith Velkor]

26. Asshole friends make you an asshole

Pass the whipped cream.

[Missy Vixen]

27. Just another excuse to marginalize and ostracize the fat

After all, if you hang with them, you'll get The Fat, and God knows nobody wants that, do they?

Julie

[Horse with no Name]

28. Those were my first thoughts as well

What have we become?

[Richard Steele]

29. HAs it occurred to anyone that marginalization and ostracization might be the REASON for this?

Maybe fat people are more likely to have fat friends because
everyone else treats them like shit? Did they figure that factor
into this study?

[Katherine Brengle]

32. That's a really good point.

[Missy Vixen]

33. They evidently didn't get the memo

>Did they figure that factor into this study?<

No, because fat people aren't deserving of any type of humane treatment.

There's also the small matter of the $6 billion a year diet industry in the United States.

Julie

[KitchenWitch]

30. Is the mechanism for catching "the Fat" the same as for catching "the Gay"?

I want to make sure I protect myself and my family :eyes:

[Missy Vixen]

34. I know that when you catch The Gay

you get a toaster oven. Then again, don't you only get the toaster oven if you recruit someone else?

What do you get if you catch The Fat -- a jumbo George Foreman grill? A FryDaddy? A lifetime supply of Ben & Jerry's? WHAT?

I must know ;-).

Julie

[KitchenWitch]

38. I would happily catch the Fat for a lifetime supply of Ben and Jerry's!

;)

[Katherine Brengle]

31. Right?

As if fat folks don't have it hard enough socially in this country.

I do think there is a lot of rationalizing for obesity that goes on on this board though - some people have legitimate medical issues like diabetes and metabolic diseases etc, but most people who are fat get there by eating too much. A lot of the time these diseases follow, rather than precede.

(I am not truly teh fat, but considered overweight for my height - I achieve this by eating pizza and ice cream when I know better.)

[Marr]

37. Ever noticed how friends tend to dress similarly?

People will change their style of dress to conform to that of their friends. I expect the weight thing is a little different-- since gaining alot of weight by overeating is really more of an indulgence, like the person assumes it's ok to have that twinkie because hey, 'I'm still thinner than Bob', but still. It's interesting how people use their friends to gauge what's normal or acceptable.

[AnExtremist]

39. Nah, couldn't be commecials or fattening foods eh?

It has to be fat people. Alienate them. Chastise them! When they no longer have any 'thin' friends it'll shame them into becoming the draftable *ahem* appropriate size for an average, fit american.

:rofl:

[ProfessorGAC]

40. I'd Really Like To See The Raw Data

And, i'd like to review the methodology. Quite frankly, i don't believe this conclusion.
The Professor

[TahitiNut]

41. What? You challenge our faith-based culture with analysis?

Heaven forbid.

:silly:

Everyone knows that people with a genetic propensity for lung cancer exhibit a preference for tobacco smoke.
:dunce:

[Breeze54]

43. Stupid friends beget and attract stupid friends too!

:P

"Researchers from Harvard and the University of California found that a fat person's
siblings have a 40 per cent increased risk, and their spouse a 37 per cent increased risk."

I have 7 brothers and sisters and only two of us have had a weight problem.
Myself and my younger brother. I was at my right weight most of my life until
I got older, was hit by a car (severe whiplash) and stressed out for 16 months
while my son was deployed. I think the stress is what put me over the edge.
I never went out afraid that the phone would ring or I'd get a visit.
But I'm trying to fix that, now that he's home.