Good point!
Maria Inês
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Diana Liw" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2007 11:45 AM
Subject: Re: [SDOH] more... -- The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social 
Network over32 Years


>I don't get what all the fuss is about.  Isn't this the age long issue of 
>"peer pressure"?
>
>>>> Dennis Raphael <[log in to unmask]> 07/26/07 6:51 AM 
>>>>  >>>
> Are your friends making you fat?
> ANDRE PICARD
>
> From Thursday's Globe and Mail
>
>
> July 26, 2007 at 8:43 AM EDT
>
> When, a few years back, scientists and public health officials began using
> the expression "obesity epidemic," it was controversial.
>
> The term epidemic was traditionally used to describe the rapid spread of
> infectious diseases such as influenza or polio. But the argument was made
> that the term could be used in a non-biological sense to refer to
> widespread and growing social problems.
>
> Now comes word that obesity actually is contagious. Fat is not caused by a
> virus, bacterium or other pathogen. Rather, it spreads to the waists,
> thighs and other jiggly regions of the body through social networks.
>
> In a fascinating article in today's New England Journal of Medicine,
> researchers at Harvard University and the University of California, San
> Diego, show that if a close friend becomes obese, your likelihood of
> becoming obese soars by 171 per cent. If it's a casual friend or
> acquaintance, the risk is still a notable 57 per cent, and your friend's
> friends have a similarly increased risk of obesity.
>
>
> Enlarge Image
> Are your friends making you fat? This is a social network map of 2,200
> people who took part in a major study on obesity. Click on the link below
> to see an animated and narrated version of this graphic.
>
> Internet Links
> Animated Graphic: Social network map
> By comparison, having an obese sibling increases your risk 40 per cent,
> and an obese spouse ups your risk 37 per cent. All these risk calculations
> are done over a long period, 32 years.
>
> The catchy, headline-grabbing interpretation of this study is: Your
> friends make you fat.
>
> But there is a less sensational and more important point that should be
> retained.
>
> "These findings reinforce the idea that obesity is not just an individual
> problem, but a collective problem," Nicholas Christakis, a professor of
> medical sociology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, told a media
> teleconference.
>
> It's not that people who are overweight or obese seek each other out, but
> rather that friends are growing fatter together.
>
> "What appears to be happening is that a person becoming obese most likely
> causes a change of norms about what counts as an appropriate body size.
> People come to think that it is okay to be bigger, since those around them
> are bigger, and this sensibility spreads," Dr. Christakis said.
>
> The results of this type of thinking are visible in the streets and
> striking in the statistics.
>
> In the United States, 66 per cent of adults are now overweight, including
> 33 per cent who are obese (meaning more than 30 per cent of their body
> weight consists of fat.)
>
> Americans aren't the only ones losing the battle of the bulge. In Canada,
> 59 per cent of adults are overweight, including 23 per cent who are obese.
>
> In other words, normal weight is not normal any more.
>
> And what the new study tells us is that, no matter how unhealthy being
> obese can be (excess weight is a risk factor for diabetes, heart disease,
> stroke and some forms of cancer), we are able to rationalize excess
> poundage because it is the norm in our social circle.
>
> Physiologically, gaining weight is easy to explain: If you ingest more
> calories than you burn, you gain weight. Do so routinely over a period of
> years and, like the majority of Canadians, you find yourself overweight.
>
> But understanding why and what people eat - quantity and quality - and how
> active they are is far more complex.
>
> Genetics come into play, but our genes alone do not explain why we need
> ever-larger jeans.
>
> Far too often in dealing with health issues, particularly public health
> issues, we ignore or fail to recognize the importance of social factors.
>
> This new study looked at the influence of friendship and the social
> environments we create for ourselves.
>
> From a public health perspective, the information is valuable: It holds
> the promise that, if you get one person to deal with their weight, it will
> have a ripple effect on their social network of friends and family.
>
> Of course, we know this intuitively. Anyone who has ever tried to
> undertake a diet or exercise regime knows that, without the support of
> friends and family, it is impossible to maintain the lifestyle change. But
> the research demonstrates just how powerful these influences can be.
>
> Bear in mind, however, that the new study is derived from the famed
> Framingham Heart Study, a research project that has been tracking the
> health of residents of a Massachusetts town since 1948.
>
> The study has provided a gold mine of information, but its one weakness is
> the lack of racial and socio-economic diversity of its participants.
>
> Friendship no doubt has an important influence on a person's weight, but
> it probably pales in comparison to matters over which individuals have far
> less control: income, housing, education, job security, food security and
> a sense of belonging.
>
> It is no coincidence that rates of overweight and obesity are
> significantly higher among the poor and disenfranchised.
>
> Socio-economic factors - not social networking - are fuelling a large part
> of the obesity epidemic.
>
> You can't just blame the company people keep. You have to look at the
> society they live in.
>
> That truly is a collective, not an individual, problem.
>
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