friends can help
A study by the New England Journal of Medicine found that social networks are more important than genes when it comes to determining what a person weighs. These findings may explain why people’s best efforts to slim down on their own are often short-lived. It also suggests that public health initiatives to help people achieve a healthy weight should take social networks into account.
The study by Harvard researchers found that behavioral norms shift depending on how people in a social circle look and act. In particular, the chance of a person gaining weight rose 71% if a same-sex friend had gained weight. There was a lesser effect of one spouse on the other for straight married couples and no effect from neighbors who weren’t part of the social network.
In other studies, networks have been found to be important for shaping political attitudes and teen sexual behavior.
The researchers hypothesize that if weight gain can spread through a social network, then presumably, so can healthy eating habits. Medical and public-health interventions to promote achieving a healthy weight might be more cost-effective than previously thought since health improvements in one person might spread to others.