Do our friends make us fatter? Yes, according to a new study which has found that thin people who socialise with the obese can put on weight. But, here is the good news. The process can work in reverse too theoretically , says the study.
For the study, a team, led by Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler, examined 32 years of data collected during a research of people’s hearts in Framingham in Massachusetts. Researchers discovered that where two people who are friends for a long time, and where one is heavier than the other, the thinner friend tended to increase in weight by up to 57% over time.
The figure was made more even more stark when compared to the likelihood of the same happening between genetic relations — 40% — and spouses, where the weight increase is an average of 37%.
“Our findings reinforced the idea that because people are interconnected, their health is interconnected,” Dr Christakis said.
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