If the answer to this question is yes, what a ripple effect it could have. Amazingly, the results of a research published in the Journal JAMA Pediatrics, March 12, 2018, gives a positive response to the above question. Could an increase in body mass index be transferred from person to the person like chicken pox?
Contagious diseases are diseases that can be transferred from one person to the next through contact with a diseased person or contact with the secretions or fluid from the diseased.
How does this research arrive at the results?
The study was conducted on military families assigned to a particular region. They found out that families assigned to an area where the majority of the population were obese or thin passed through changes in their physical form to conform to their new places of residence.
Picture By Maryland GovPics Flickr(CC BY 2.0)
Though the specifics of the 'how' remains unclear, the study conducted on thirty-eight military units spread across the United States sought to find out if body mass index, BMI and the chances of being obese or thin increased with exposure to an obese or thin population.
1519 families were studied, and at the end of the almost year-long study, the body mass index was found to increase or decrease in relation to the average weight of the population where the military installation was located.
The finding speculated that the results might be attributed to social factors. Moving to a new environment means meeting new people with a different social life and habits one might inculcate unintentionally to fit in.
This could affect choices in relocation, length of stay and habits as the researchers also tied the duration of stay to the degree of obesity.
References
- Ashlesha Datar, Nancy Nicosia. Assessing Social Contagion in Body Mass Index, Overweight, and Obesity Using a Natural Experiment. Retrieved April 11, 2018, from, https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/2668504?redirect=true
- Karen Kaplan. Military families bolster the case that obesity is indeed contagious. Retrieved April 11, 2018, from, http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-obesity-contagious-army-20180123-story.html
- Wikipedia. Contagious disease. Retrieved April 11, 2018, from, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contagious_disease
Originally Published on STEEMNEWS.ONLINE
