研究表明肥胖可在朋友中传染

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研究表明肥胖可在朋友中传染

NEW YORK, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Obesity can spread from person to person among friends, much like a virus, according to a research published in the New England Journal of Medicine on the July 26 issue.

The study involved a detailed analysis of a large social network of 12,067 people who had been closely followed for 32 years, from 1971 until 2003.

The investigators knew who was friends with whom, as well as who was a spouse or sibling or neighbor, and they knew how much each person weighed at various times over three decades. That let them examine what happened over the years as some individuals became obese.

Through the long-term analysis, the researchers found that people were most likely to become obese when a friend became obese. That increased a person's chances of becoming obese by 57 percent.

There was no effect when a neighbor gained or lost weight, however, and family members had less influence than friends.

Proximity did not seem to matter: the influence of the friend remained even if the friend was hundreds of miles away.

The same effect seemed to occur for weight loss, the investigators say.

Dr. Nicholas Christakis, a physician and professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School and a principal investigator in the new study, says one explanation is that friends affect each others' perception of fatness. When a close friend becomes obese, obesity may not look so bad.

The investigators say their findings can help explain why Americans have become fatter in recent years - each person who became obese was likely to drag some friends with them.

On average, the investigators said, their rough calculations show that a person who became obese gained 17 pounds (about 7.7 kg), and the newly obese person's friend gained 5 pounds (2.3 kg). But some gained less or did not gain weight at all, while others gained much more.

The research was financed by the National Institute on Aging.

Dr. Richard Suzman, who directs the office of behavioral and social research programs at the National Institute on Aging, called it \"one of the most exciting studies to come out of medical sociology in decades.\"

The New England Journal of Medicine, a medical weekly published by the Massachusetts Medical Society, is one of the most popular and widely-read peer-reviewed general medical journals in the world.
研究表明肥胖可在朋友间传染

新华社7月25日纽约报道：新英格兰医学杂志7月26日发表的一项研究表明，肥胖能像病毒一样在朋友间传播。这项研究涵盖了一个12067例个体的巨大社会网络，对其进行长达32年（从1971年到2003年）的仔细观察和分析得出这一结论。

研究人员十分明确这一群体中人们之间的关系，包括朋友、配偶、兄妹或邻居关系，以及过去三十年间不同时期每个人的体重。这样可以发现这些年内某些个体变胖会带来什么结果。通过长期分析，研究人员发现当某人的一个朋友变胖后他也容易变胖，变胖几率增加了57%。邻居变胖或变瘦不会带来影响，家庭成员带来的影响小于朋友的影响。而且距离对产生这一影响好像作用不大：朋友间即便相距几百英里也会产生这一影响。不仅肥胖可在朋友间传染，体重减轻好像也有这一趋势。
Nicholas Christakis博士是一位内科大夫，也是哈佛医学院医学社会学教授及本项新研究中的主要研究人员。他认为一种解释是朋友可以影响相互间对肥胖的感觉，当一个好朋友变胖时，另一位朋友会觉得变胖没什么不好。这样有助于解释为什么近年来美国人趋于变胖，一个人变胖可能带动周围的朋友变胖。本研究结果表明一个人增重17磅（约7.7千克）会使其朋友平均增重5磅（2.3千克），一些朋友增加得没那么多或根本不增加，而另一些朋友增加得更多。

国立衰老研究所资助了这项研究，其行为部及社会研究项目由Richard Suzman博士领导，他认为这这一发现是“十余年来医学社会学最令人振奋的发现之一”。

注：马萨诸塞医学协会每周出版的新英格兰医学杂志是世上最受欢迎的、广泛阅读的综合性医学刊物。