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Spread of Obesity as a Network

Obesity has been an ongoing epidemic in America. As of 2007, 66% of adults are overweight and the numbers are constantly rising. The risks of being obese include diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. While researching the reasons behind the spread of obesity, Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler found that the causes are mainly social. Some of the biggest contributing factors to obesity are diet and exercise, which are generally habits that are shared by the people who you spend the most time with throughout the day. A person is more likely to adopt healthy habits if his/her close friends or family members are setting the right examples. However this can go the other way as well, in the case where unhealthy habits can be developed as a result of a personal environment. Let there be a network where each node represents a person and each edge represents a strong relationship. It would make sense that if one person in a network of close friendships has habits that contribute to obesity, then the rest of the friend group also shares these habits.

 

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In the example above, each node represents one person. The color of the node represents obesity (yellow being obese and green being non-obese), and the edge colors represent the relationship between nodes (purple denoting friendship/partnership and orange denoting family members). With some exceptions, the hypothesis holds true. For the most part, green nodes tend to cluster with other green nodes and the same goes for yellow nodes. It also seems that the clusters hold true regardless of the type of relationship. This means that family members and close friends have the same level of leverage on each other’s habits.

 

Another finding from this study was that geographical distance between people did not have much effect in the sharing of habits. Rather it is the quality of the relationship that plays a bigger role in whether or not a node is more likely to be obese. In this case, even the habits of a long distance relative has more leverage on you than a casual neighborhood acquaintance. This makes sense because especially as a kid growing up, familial relatives are the first wave of role models that you have to look up to.

 

This knowledge is important to be able to curb the spread of obesity. By setting a positive example for friends and family, it is possible to prevent their exposure to the health risks that come with being overweight.

 
Article: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa066082#t=article

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