Shocking! Just Being Near Close Obese Friends Can Make You Fat

It is true! Check out this article from Reuters via Star Online here. Come, be close to me and let me spread obesity to you. Don't worry, there are no studies done yet if reading a fat person's blog will make another fat. Below are some snippets:

Researchers who have studied "networks" of obesity think so: they found that if someone's friend becomes obese, that person's chances of becoming obese increase by more than half.

Siblings and spouses also have an influence, although a reduced one -- people whose siblings became obese were themselves 40 percent more likely to grow obese, while people whose spouses became obese were 37 percent more likely to.

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If someone became obese, their friends were 57 percent more likely to become obese over the 32 years, they found. If people named one another as contacts, they were 171 percent, or more than double, as likely to become obese if the other did.

The effect held for three degrees of separation. If a person became obese, their friends were more likely to become obese, but also friends of friends. It also occurred in shorter periods within the 32-year span.

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The findings held even if people lived 800 km apart or even further. But having an obese neighbor did not affect a person's likelihood of becoming obese -- which suggests that common environments are not to blame.

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"I do see this quite a bit clinically -- that an individual will come in and say, 'I have been best friends with this person since college and we just slowly gained weight together.'"