CBS Doc: Be Careful Not to Catch Fat From Your Friends!

Photo of Ken Shepherd.

Our friends at the MRC's Business & Media Institute (BMI) have documented the media's obsession with the so-called obesity epidemic in this country. [Update: BMI's Jeff Poor wrote about this today here.]

Of course, unlike real epidemics which involve communicable diseases, obesity is not a condition you "catch" from casual, or even intimate, contact.

But as true as that is and ever shall be, it can't hurt advancing the storyline to suggest that, yes, in a manner of speaking, fatness is catchable.

Just feast your eyes on CBS medical correspondent Dr. John LaPook's July 25 blog post, "Is Obesity Contagious?" (portions in bold my emphasis):

Tonight’s story focuses on a report from the Framingham Heart Study that suggests that obesity – and thinness – can spread through social ties. And it’s not just that obese people tend to hang out together. If one of a pair of mutual friends BECOMES obese (defined as Body Mass Index, or BMI>= 30) then the risk of the other becoming obese increases by 171%! And social closeness is much more important than geographic closeness. There was no effect for next door neighbors who weren’t friends. But a friend 1,000 miles away influences you as much as a friend next door.

One of the most surprising findings was that the effect extends out three levels of friendship. Not only are you affected by your friend, but by your friend’s friend and your friend’s friend’s friend. If everybody is connected by six degrees of separation, think how many people might be influenced by three degrees of separation!

I spoke to James Fowler, Ph.D., an author of the study appearing in July 26th’s edition of the The New England Journal of Medicine. He is excited about the public health implications of this study. Think how many people might be helped by one person’s healthy lifestyle. The same effect that can cause an obese friend to increase a friend’s risk of obesity by 171% works the other way too. As Dr. Fowler told me, “When your obese friend loses weight and becomes either overweight or a normal weight, it reduces your risk of obesity by 63%.”

Harnessing the power of friendships may well be the new new thing in medicine.

 

—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters


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(MSM) Junk science has

(MSM) Junk science has obviously Jumped The Shark ... Again.

Did this study . .

take a look at "fat heads" too? Using that logic, we can become like them, and vice versa - problem there is there are too many of THEM, but I'm thinking brain power will over come.

There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V

Here is an interesting

Here is an interesting counter attack on the liberal meddling do gooders who push this nonsense.  http://john-ray.blogspot.com/  Read the blue section on the right:

A major cause of increasing obesity is certainly the campaign against it -- as dieting usually makes people FATTER. If there were any sincerity to the obesity warriors, they would ban all diet advertising and otherwise shut up about it. Re-authorizing now-banned school playground activities and school outings would help too. But it is so much easier to blame obesity on the evil "multinationals" than it is to blame it on your own restrictions on the natural activities of kids

The medical consensus is often wrong. The best known wrongheaded medical orthodoxy is that stomach ulcers could not be caused by bacteria because the stomach is so acidic. Disproof of that view first appeared in 1875 (Yes. 1875) but the falsity of the view was not widely recognized until 1990. Only heroic efforts finally overturned the consensus and led to a cure for stomach ulcers.

Where have we heard the debate is over, we are not open to alternative views because there is a consensus??????

“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane"

The Debate IS over. It's

The Debate IS over.

It's not ok to be fat.  Period.  End of story. 

 

So, a person's right to

So, a person's right to choose to be fat is not okay?

Hi, Hater! Is it still

Hi, Hater!

Is it still okay for fat white chicks to be only good for black men to screw, like you've said in the past?

Just checking.

 

See other post . .

about Fat Heads.

There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V

Does this explain Bill

Does this explain Bill Clinton's attraction to them?  After all, he was the First Black Prez ...

"I Miss Bill Clinton"

"I Miss Bill Clinton"

It doesn't matter what party you belong to -- this is hilarious. From a show on Canadian TV there was a black comedian who said he misses Bill Clinton.

"Yep, that's right - I miss Bill Clinton!  He was the closest thing we ever got to having a black man as President.

Number 1 - He played the sax.  

Number 2 - He smoked weed. 

Number 3 - He had his way with ugly white women.

Even now?  Look at him ... his wife works, and he doesn't! And, he gets a check from the government every month.

Manufacturers announced today that they will be stocking America's shelves this week with "Clinton Soup," in honor of one of the nations' most distinguished men. It consists primarily of a weenie in hot water.

Chrysler Corporation is adding a new car to its line to honor Bill Clinton.  The Dodge Drafter will be built in Canada.

When asked what he thought about foreign affairs, Clinton replied,  "I don't know, I never had one."

The Clinton revised judicial oath:  "I solemnly swear to tell the truth as I know it, the whole truth as I believe it to be, and nothing but what I think you need to know."

Clinton will be recorded in history as the only President to do Hanky Panky between Bushes.

---ya gotta love it. But-not enough to put his old lady in the White House!

Ok Leon, here is some

Ok Leon, here is some dissent.  Let's see how you handle it. LOL

Just some problems with the "Obesity" war:

1). It tries to impose behavior change on everybody -- when most of those targeted are not obese and hence have no reason to change their behaviour. It is a form of punishing the innocent and the guilty alike. (It is also typical of Leftist thinking: Scorning the individual and capable of dealing with large groups only).

2). The longevity research all leads to the conclusion that it is people of MIDDLING weight who live longest -- not slim people. So the "epidemic" of obesity is in fact largely an "epidemic" of living longer.

3). It is total calorie intake that makes you fat -- not where you get your calories. Policies that attack only the source of the calories (e.g. "junk food") without addressing total calorie intake are hence pissing into the wind. People involuntarily deprived of their preferred calorie intake from one source are highly likely to seek and find their calories elsewhere.

4). So-called junk food is perfectly nutritious. A big Mac meal comprises meat, bread, salad and potatoes -- which is a mainstream Western diet. If that is bad then we are all in big trouble.

5). Food warriors demonize salt and fat. But we need a daily salt intake to counter salt-loss through perspiration and the research shows that people on salt-restricted diets die SOONER. And Eskimos eat huge amounts of fat with no apparent ill-effects. And the average home-cooked roast dinner has LOTS of fat. Will we ban roast dinners?

6). The foods restricted are often no more calorific than those permitted -- such as milk and fruit-juice drinks.

7). Tendency to weight is mostly genetic and is therefore not readily susceptible to voluntary behaviour change.

8). And when are we going to ban cheese? Cheese is a concentrated calorie bomb and has lots of that wicked animal fat in it too. Wouldn't we all be better off without it? And what about butter and margarine? They are just about pure fat. Surely they should be treated as contraband in kids' lunchboxes! [/sarcasm].

Trans fats:

For one summary of the weak science behind the "trans-fat" hysteria, see here. Trans fats have only a temporary effect on blood chemistry and the evidence of lasting harm from them is dubious. By taking extreme groups in trans fats intake, some weak association with coronary heart disease has at times been shown in some sub-populations but extreme group studies are inherently at risk of confounding with other factors and are intrinsically of little interest to the average person.

 

“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane"

BTW- What weight or BMI

BTW- What weight or BMI makes a person "fat".  There was an issue of choosing too low a range of BMI for so called normal BMI which then pushed many people into the so called obese category.  Basically, to fall into the norms a person had to be a bean pole.   I supposed that debate is also over? 

Sounds like the same gig with being poor, they moved the bench mark and walla, there are now more poor people under Bush than under Clinton.  It's all a cynical political game by liberals, the object of that game is power, total control over the population.

“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane"

BMI is a crock!

I agree with you dscott!  Using BMI - I'm twenty pounds overweight (5'9" @ 186 lbs), but the index does not take into account muscle density.  If I drop my weight much below 176 I look like I just walked out of a concentration camp!

 

BMI is set waaaaaay too low.

 

~Valendil

Oh, wow! Your brain's BMI is

Oh, wow! Your brain's BMI is now up to  four digits!

It's not my fault....

ABC News also ran with this story. They even stressed the point that the 'friend' can live hundreds of miles away and still cause you to be overwieght. Glad to see they found yet another problem that can be blamed on someone else....Would be terrible if anyone was responsible for their own actions.

No RINOs in '08 - Thompson/Hunter would be a good ticket; Thompson/Steele would be a great ticket

Oh so fat is contagious...Is ugly too?

This explains so much and I thank CBS for finally explaining why fat women abound as they caught it from Roseanne, Rosie, Whoopie and the Oprah seesaw.

I actually have seen this condition in action. There was a fat gal with those disgusting sweat pants crawling into areas that only gynocologists should tread with disposable gloves. It was amazing to see this woman order up only a plate of greasy onion rings.....and I almost dropped out of my booth after she was done feeding that she complained to the waitress, "Those onion rings were not heaped high enough."

So now that I know this woman was suffering from the Rosie O Virus.........I will presume that all the greasy haired, sweaty, smelly women who I see watching Oprah and blaming all men for their problems that they caught the ugly virus too.

It was featured yesterday that Carbon Cabinet was to be a new governmental body soon........I guess with CBS the government will now have to have a CDC division of fat and a CDC version of ugly.

*People you do realize CBS pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to these "experts" who make things up. Somehow they could save a bundle and just pay a 5 year old to explain gluttony.

Oh and fat is not contagious, it is the psychological axiom of birds of a feather flock together. People who eat comfort food are fat and they pychologically group together and that is why they are all fat just like Oprah enables fat and people who are failures.

Is the same reason you only see skinny women around Hefner as he is a sponge to women of low self esteem starving themselves and suffering from silicon implants.

People group by psychology of excuse to carry out their weaknesses. I should bill CBS for this advice.

 

*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS

personal responsibilty

I just lost many pounds myself. My friends are amazed. "How did you do it?", they ask. I say I never lost weight until I truly wanted to and finally decided to end all my excuses. Blaming someone else for your own personal lapses is modern liberalism in action. What a crock this "study" is.

 ( BTW, dscott is correct. Count calories; it works wonders.)

NEVER,NEVER trust a liberal

My theory on why today's

My theory on why today's "fat" population are that way, (besides the lack of PE in public schools due to liberal coddling of non-competitiveness and unfair physical advantage that causes undue stress on those poor little helpless students, in addition to today's lazy-mode society), is society's insistence of quick, easy, and hastle-free meals.  (The mentality of this impatient mind-set spills over into society's extreme ADD in the need for patience and perspective in obviously vastly important issues such as war ... Resulting in the growth in the drive-by MSM)

Back to the food, we swing by the fast food drive through, or even look for foods in the grocery stores that take little or no preparation or prep time.  Many of these types of foods contain corn by-products (once a cheap filler and additive) that are proven to contribute to weight gain.  On that note, if you have noticed a slight increase in your grocery bill, check out the ingredients labels.  If corn by-products are included, hence the reason for the price increase.

Since the recent insistence of corn-fed bio-fuels to replace crude oil as a fuel source ANYTHING corn related, even in the slightest, has risen in price.  Not to mention meat prices that are directly related to the corn animals are fed.  The same can be attributed to milk prices, as those cows are also fed corn.  At my local farm market stands the price of a dozen ears of corn has doubled since last summer.

In my very serious opinion, we are completely wrong to the point of criminal to use what are food products as energy sources.  While it is debated that corn is not the best or most nutritiously advantageous food source, much like rice and wheat, it IS a major food source in the world, most especially in certain underdeveloped areas of the world.

Anyhow, the second part of my theory is that America has the fattest poor people in the world.  Why? Well, because food stamps and vouchers  are being used to purchase processed foods at a much higher rate than fresh produce, milk products, and meats.  Again, this goes back to the corn by-products used in prepping these processed foods.  So, this form of obesity is directly related to a lack of (and an extreme resistance to) nutritional and home economics education.

Oh, so it's other people's

Oh, so it's other people's fault that I used to be overweight.  It wasn't the fact that I led a sedentary lifestyle, ate way too much, never exercised and sat on my butt all day.  I love now that I can blame my friends for what happened to me.

I tell you, some people just don't ever take any responsibility for their actions.  I'll never have the type of body that is slim and looks like a model, but I'm healthy now and that's all that matters. 

Dutch

I'm blaming mine on Michael

I'm blaming mine on Michael Moore and Rosie O.

I'm gonna go with .

Orson Wells, Marlon Brando, and a great wrestler, Haystack Callhoun.

There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V

Not me, by golly!

My problem is a direct result of seeing Fat Bastard!

Our real problem, then, is not our strength today; it is rather the vital necessity of action today to ensure our strength tomorrow. Dwight Eisenhower

"Oh Ahh'mm dead sexy" You

"Oh Ahh'mm dead sexy"

You can't save the Earth unless You're willing to make other people sacrifice. Dogbert the Green Consultant summing up the elite left.

I've heard this type of

I've heard this type of thinking from somebody recently....who could it be? Hmmm let me think...could it be...I don't know...AL GORE!!! - Sarcasm courtesy of the church lady!

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana!" Groucho

Time to have

Time to have government fix this 'second-hand fat' epidemic. Banning obese people from public buildings, restraunts, bars,  and parks seems to be the most logical step. >>sarcasm off

Um, if this story is

Um, if this story is true....

How come every good looking skinny chick at a bar (in the movies) is usually accompanied by a fat one?  Does that mean Hollywood is lying?  I mean, if this story is true, the good looking skinny chick ought to be a nice looking fat one, seeing as associating with a fat chick will cause her to gain weight.

What's up with that?

 

I'm not overweight - I'm

I'm not overweight - I'm underheight. My plan is to grow five inches taller this year. 

The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.

- Arabian Proverb