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 per cent over time.
The figure was made more even more stark when compared to the likelihood of the same happening between genetic relations — 40 per cent — and spouses, where the weight increase is an average of 37 per cent.
As an example of how it affects people who aren’t friends, the researchers studied the weights of neighbours and found no link in weight increase.
“I think our findings reinforced the idea that because people are interconnected, their health is interconnected,” Dr Christakis was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying. The process could also help obese people lose weight.
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Mariah gives birth to boy, girl
Los Angeles: Pop diva Mariah Carey has become a mother on her third wedding anniversary on Sunday after giving birth to twins, a girl and a boy.
The 41-year-old and husband Nick Cannon welcomed the twins at an undisclosed hospital in Los Angeles, reported People magazine online. Carey’s representative, Cindi Berger, confirmed the twins’ arrival and told reporters that the baby girl was born first and the couple has not named the children yet.
Cannon drove Carey to the hospital in their Rolls-Royce and though Carey was calm, the 30-year-old rapper was so nervous he went to the wrong department at the hospital, and was guided to the maternity ward by a nurse. Berger said that the new family celebrated by listening to Carey’s hit We Belong Together.
The couple then took to Twitter to share the good news. “My wife just gave me the most incredible anniversary gift ever in life! I won’t ever be able to top this,” wrote Cannon on the micro-blogging website.
—PTI