Organic Vending: Effect of Friends on Weight

At YoNaturals organic vending, we feel that the cause of obesity is attributable to more than simply eating too many supersized fries or drinking a milkshake with every meal, and even goes beyond genetics. In fact, just last year a study determined that there is a link between obesity and friendships. That is, people who have an obese friend are 57 percent more likely to be overweight or obese themselves.

Interestingly enough, the correlation was most pronounced between close friends, but it was also evident between looser social circles. This pattern would suggest that obesity can be viewed as a social contagion. And the researchers think that the reason obesity spreads in such a way is because humans have a tendency to unconsciously mimic the habits and idiosyncrasies of the people that they hold in high regard.

Now, the shocking part is that statisticians already estimate the number of overweight American adults to be over 60 percent, with about 30 percent of the people in this category meeting the threshold for being considered obese. And those numbers are increasing every day.

Although research suggests that there is an underlying predisposition for obesity that is found in some people’s genes, studies like these indicate that social interactions and environments play a significant role in obesity as well. Genetics alone simply cannot account for the huge increase in the percentage of obese Americans over the past few decades.

This study that was performed last year asked participants to make a list of the closest people in their social networks, including spouses, family members, and friends that they were likely to keep in touch with over time. The researchers then used this list to incorporate even more participants into the study for purposes of studying the obesity epidemic that seems to be prevalent in society.

During the course of their study, the researchers observed that friend groups did not form due to people of similar weight becoming friends; rather it seemed that people gained weight in groups. In fact, when two people listed one another as a friend and one of those two gained weight, the second person was 171 percent more likely to become obese themselves. Furthermore, this mutual weight gain was not observed in pairs of people where only one person listed the other as their friend. In these cases, when weight gain occurred, it spread only to the participant who listed the other person as their friend.

Other findings in the study indicated that people who had friends with obese friends (friends of friends, that is to say) had a 20 percent increase in their risk of becoming obese. Siblings and spouses also had an effect on a participant’s likelihood of becoming obese, although at 40 percent and 37 percent (respectively) it was significantly smaller than the effect of having obese friends.

It is undeniable that the American propensity to eat supersized fries and milkshakes in mass quantities have a lot to do with the obesity epidemic in this country, but it is also quickly becoming obvious that there are other underlying social reasons that will explain why obesity is becoming a huge problem for many adults in this nation. Let’s use peer pressure to our advantage instead of the other way around; try pressuring your friends to patronize a natural and organic vending machines by YoNaturals, instead of French Fries.