Have obese friends? Beware, it’s contagious
Is obesity contagious? Well, so think scientists who claim that people with a higher number of fat friends or relatives are likely to become obese themselves. Researchers from Arizona State University’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change in the US found a number of ways in which fat people can influence their friends’ girth.
The influence, according to the researchers, can be subliminal — where having overweight pals can make people see their weight as “normal” and eat accordingly until they’re the same size. It can also be more direct, with obese people putting pressure on their slimmer friends to eat more and exercise less until they “achieve the same body size”, the Daily Mail reported.
And even being around larger pals can put you at risk of gaining weight yourself, as socialising with them is likely to revolve more around eating or watching TV and less about engaging in physical activity, researchers said.
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