How Obesity Spreads Among Friends
May 5, 2011 | 4:09 PM ET | By Rachael Rettner, MyHealthNewsDaily Staff Writer
Obesity is known to spread among friends, but how does this transmission happen?
Obesity spreads socially not because friends have shared ideas about acceptable body size, but rather because they share environments and carry out activities together that may contribute to weight gain, a new study suggests.
Obesity spreads socially not because friends have shared ideas about acceptable body size, but rather because they share environments and carry out activities together that may contribute to weight gain, a new study suggests.
In other words, shared social behaviors, such as eating out at restaurants, and shared surroundings, likely play a bigger role in the obesity "friend effect" than do shared social norms.
The study suggests ways public health professionals can best combat the obesity epidemic in America. For instance, it suggests interventions that try to change people's ideas about how fat or thin they should be won't be very effective.
"What people think about others' bodies is not that important to protecting them against weight gain," said study researcher Alexandra Brewis, director of the Center for Global Health at Arizona State University. "There's a lot of assumption that you can shame people into losing weight through social pressure," Brewis told MyHealthNewsDaily. "That strategy is probably not going to work very well," she said.
Instead, efforts should focus on promoting healthy environments, for instance, making people's neighborhoods more walkable and increasing access to healthy foods, the researchers say.
"We need to focus on what people do together, rather than what people think," Brewis said.
The study suggests ways public health professionals can best combat the obesity epidemic in America. For instance, it suggests interventions that try to change people's ideas about how fat or thin they should be won't be very effective.
"What people think about others' bodies is not that important to protecting them against weight gain," said study researcher Alexandra Brewis, director of the Center for Global Health at Arizona State University. "There's a lot of assumption that you can shame people into losing weight through social pressure," Brewis told MyHealthNewsDaily. "That strategy is probably not going to work very well," she said.
Instead, efforts should focus on promoting healthy environments, for instance, making people's neighborhoods more walkable and increasing access to healthy foods, the researchers say.
"We need to focus on what people do together, rather than what people think," Brewis said.
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