Do fat friends make YOU fat? |
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This study published in the New England Journal of medicine, which found
that having fat friends raised the probability of YOU gaining weight, was
likely, originated to point out that if you 'hang out' with friends who
like to go out and eat huge gourmet meals, you are more likely to gain
weight than if you have friends who are on a diet and eat at "soup or
salad". And indeed, the Washington Post's "Lean Plate" club addressed the
study from that angle. However, the way that the study was done rendered the findings, invalid. The researchers used methods not appropriate for that type of study, and data which was generalized existent data and therefore lacking many details which might have changed the outcome (called a "data dredge" study). And the news media took the study in a more global sociological setting, instead of realizing what the actual bottom line of the study was probably meant to be i.e. that being around friends who indulge in a lot of rich eating OR drinking to excess OR using party drugs or gaming or hunting or playing music can be an influence on how much YOU indulge in these things. That's kind of a no brainer and one cannot help asking why they needed a study to prove that! It also wrongly assumed that if you have friends who enjoy eating a lot of food, they will likely be fat. In truth, as an overwhelming body of scientific research has suggested, fatness may be as genetic or close to it, as the color of your hair. For example, if you have ever seen those eating contests, most of the people IN THEM are slim and only one or two are very fat, thus suggesting that many people can eat large amounts of food without it affecting their girth. Unfortunately, what this study published in the NEJ may do, is, effectually promote discrimination against people of size possibly because the researchers SPECIFIED fat people instead of more correctly specifying people who enjoy eating a lot of food which can include fat OR slim people. But then, using that generalized set of data, how would they discern how much the individuals of the cohort ate? It was a quick and sloppy solution to assume that it was the fat people who were the ones overeating - but a quick and sloppy solution tends to result in a quick and sloppy study with invalid conclusions. That's a no brainer also. It should be noted that in the (unpublished as yet) Williams studies
which polled catering companies, used to cater the conventions for fat
activist groups, the researcher, educator, Russell Williams, found that 50
percent of the caterers stated that the fat people at the convention ate
the SAME amount as those of the general population at other conventions
and 50 percent of the caterers stated that the fat people ATE LESS food
than those of the general population! The study is still, as we speak,
ongoing...
If you want to spend more time exploring this study further, here are
some excellent resources:
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