or, Everything I learned from Life, I Learned First from Cartoons
Today the Times presented us with an interesting dilemma: the person most to blame for your weight is not yourself, not your mother–but your friend.
The study followed thousands of family members, friends, and other relations for three decades, and tracked the yo-yoing weights. While your same-sex sibling can increase your risk of obesity a whopping 50%, this is nothing compared to the 150+% increase in the risk of obesity when a close friend becomes obese.
Now, before you get all dubious–these results come from another study entirely, relating not to socially-induced obesity but to heart health. So had the researchers been skewing the data for the three decades in which the subjects were tracked, I would be basically as impressed as I am with these statistics, due to the sheer power of foresight.
The best part about these results, is that even from miles away, you have the power to make your close friends fat: “It did not even matter if the friend was hundreds of miles away, the influence remained.” Now that’s a spooky action–from a distance!
"So guys, what are you in for?" "Free breakfast"