Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Fat is communicable?

A new study says that this may be the case...


(From Alicia Chang of the AP via Chron.com)

If your friends and family get fat, chances are you will too, researchers report in a startling new study that suggests obesity is "socially contagious" and can spread easily from person to person.

The large, federally funded study found that to be true even if your loved ones lived far away. Social ties seemed to play a surprisingly strong role, even more than genes are known to do.

"We were stunned to find that friends who are hundreds of miles away have just as much impact on a person's weight status as friends who are right next door," said co-author James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego.

(snip)

Obesity is a global public health problem. About 1.5 billion adults worldwide are overweight, including more than 400 million who are obese. Two-thirds of Americans are either overweight or obese.


Of course, maybe the population is biased towards obese individuals because the silly BMI index has convinced us that we're all obese?

So what say you? Are you friends with people who share your body composition? Or no?

Welcome back

to 3CB.

If you're here for the first time then you probably won't remember (or dislike) 3CB for what 3rd Coast Bodybuilding wasn't. Third Coast was SUPPOSED to be a blog dedicated to bodybuilding, fitness, etc. What it turned out to be was a pain in the butt to update with reliable information. As a result of this I've rebranded and am starting up 3CB which will be much more Texas related in its focus and will delve into issues surrounding fitness in Texas, and dabble occasionally into the world of bodybuilding.

Pleae enjoy.