| "A new study suggests obesity can spread like an infectious disease and that your odds of becoming obese are much greater if your friends and family put on weight." "The strongest influence was seen among friends no matter where they lived. A person's chances of becoming obese went up 57 percent if a friend became obese. In the closest friendships, the risk almost tripled. Among siblings, the risk of obesity increased by 40 percent and 37 percent among spouses." ""We were stunned to find that friends who are hundreds of miles away have just as much impact on a person's weight status as friends who are right next door," said co-author James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego." "The researchers think it's more than just people with similar eating and exercise habits hanging out together. Instead, it may be that having relatives and friends who become obese changes one's idea of what is an acceptable weight." ""There is a ton of research that suggest that having more friends makes you healthier," Fowler said. "So the last thing that you want to do is get rid of any of your friends."" "The study was published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine and funded by the National Institute on Aging." "Researchers analyzed medical records of people in the Framingham Heart Study, which has been following the health of residents of that Boston suburb for more than a half century. They tracked records for relatives and friends using contact information that participants provided each time they were examined over a 32-year period." "After taking into account natural weight gain and other factors, researchers found that social ties seemed to play a surprisingly strong role, even more than genes are known to do. Geography and smoking cessation had no effect on obesity risk." "On average, the researchers calculated, when an obese person gained 17 pounds, the corresponding friend put on an extra 5 pounds." "Gender also had a strong influence. In same-sex friendships, a person's obesity risk increased by 71 percent if a friend gained weight. Between brothers, the risk was up by 44 percent and 67 percent between sisters." "Indiana University statistician Stan Wasserman
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