If you have obese friends and relatives, chances are you might gain some extra weight as well, according to a new study by Harvard researchers appearing in the online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Obesity might be socially contagious, according to the study by Nicholas Christakis, MD, PhD, and James Fowler, PhD. An additional finding of the study is that if your friends are thin, you are inclined to stay thin as well.

The study focused on over 12,000 individuals involved in the Framingham Heart Study. Between 1971 to 2003, the participants were monitored every two years and were classed as obese if their BMI was over 30. Because of the extensive research, the social contacts of the study participants as well as the weight of these contacts were available to the researchers.

The study found that individuals who had obese friends were at a 57 percent increased risk of becoming obese themselves. Additionally if a sibling was obese this risk decreased to 40 percent. Having an obese spouse did not appear to matter as the risk was relatively low at 37 percent.

"Mutual friends more than triple the risk to each other," said Christakis and Fowler. "If one of the two [mutual friends] becomes obese, the chance for the other to follow suit goes up 171%." Their findings are thought provoking as obesity has become rife in the United States.

Last year a report in the Journal of American Medical Association found that obesity was high among children, teens as well as adults. Of main concern is child obesity simply because it can indicate that these children will grow into obese adults.

Obesity brings with it related lifestyle diseases like heart disease, type 2 diabetes and liver problems. With many initiatives being undertaken to lessen this problem, the social implications have assumed increasing importance.

This study appears to reinforce the idea that man is a social animal and tends to follow prevailing social norms. Hence if a friend gains weight, then the other is bound to think it is ok to be on the heavier side, Christakis, a professor at Harvard University confirmed.

“You change your idea of what is an acceptable body type by looking at the people around you,” Dr. Christakis said, adding that these findings might help explain why Americans are becoming more and more obese these days. One obese individual might get several of his friends into the same weight bracket.

Dr Fowler said that friends might influence our eating habits as well. "If you're going on a diet, then you want to convince them to go on a diet. If you want to start to run or to change your exercise behavior, you also want to encourage your friends to engage in those behaviors," he pointed out.

The study also found that if the obese friend belonged to the same gender then the chances of being obese increased by 171 percent!   the prevalence of obesity in America has increased from 23 percent to 31 percent in the last few years.

The researchers said it might be a wise way to be careful of the company you keep. This is not to say you ditch your overweight friends, but just that social contacts be initiated in a amicable manner.  

Obesity need not hamper your socializing. In fact you might be able to lose some weight if you have a thin bunch of friends!

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