Comments on: Will Purell Help?

By: Debra

Debra — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 15:05:44 +0000

And no one even remarked upon the best line from the article: “Despite the research findings, people are not encouraged to sever their relationships.”

Doesn’t this mean that normally one would think that people would be encouraged to sever their relationships?

How far will the “research” studies have to go before fat people are banned as a Danger to Society.

Just sayin’.

By: grenfend

grenfend — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 20:58:22 +0000

I find the article interesting, mostly because it’s a great find for anyone who wants to teach students how to ask questions about research studies. So they followed 12,067 people from 1971-2002. The original point of the study was to follow cardiovascular health. I just wonder a few things: 1) How many people have friendships that last 30 years? (Lovely if you do, but really… how long was the friendship influence REALLY tracked?) 2) How many people in the study had long-distance friends also in the study? Are we talking about just a tiny percentage of that original group when we make much of the “proximity doesn’t matter thing”? And if we don’t have visual proximity to our fat friends, how are we recalibrating our notions of “normal” weight? What was the overall weight gain for the whole U.S. population over those 3 decades? Are there other ways we can explain the fat / thin distribution (and we know people gain weight as they age….)? Were these friendships made through work? Did the participants work in similarly sedentary or non-sedentary fields?

So many questions–I just can’t help but feel that the social contagion spin leaves an awful lot out and opens the door for some pretty horrific discrimination. Just think of what high school kids will do with this study–I shudder.

By: PeaceBang

PeaceBang — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:21:39 +0000

The New York Times headline made me so angry. I wrote about the whole ridiculous notion over at my place:
http://www.peacebang.com/2007/07/27/fat-is-catching-say-very-smart-science-type-people/

My general take on it is that as a Fat American, I’m worried about the Stupidity Epidemic in this country, and also about the Materialism Epidemic.

The serious implication here, though, is that some misguided folks will now be evaluating their friendships on the basis of body size, and that’s sickening. The research actually says that slim people have a more healthy influence on one than a fat person.
Stop the madness!

By: G.G.

G.G. — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 12:45:47 +0000

What I love best about this article on CNN (and I know they’re not the only news outlet carrying it) is that they just added a new couple of “we losta ton of weight” role models to their Obesity Crisis Central websiste. The husband part of the duo lost about 250 lbs in FIFTEEN MONTHS (without WLS). The wife, who lost something like 300 lbs, says she doesn’t really exercise other than take a walk when she feels like it.

On the same page, they link to a Mayo Clinic website that talks about slow weight loss being the best for you, and if I remember correctly, a link that talks about how you’ve got to combine exercise with better eating to get healthier.

It’s just so funny and sad. They’re holding up this couple who lost weight in a really questionable way as role models, when the advice from doctors says “No, this is really NOT the way to do it.” Just shows what the real message is: Thin is always better than fat, whatever it takes to get you there.

Anyone want to take any bets on how fast they’ll gain that weight back?

By: Ari

Ari — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 06:08:46 +0000

I think there are too many variables here to be so cut-and-dry. How susceptible is someone to peer pressure, for example? What kinds of eating habits have they already developed? Are they prone to emotional eating? The list goes on.

By: Nomie

Nomie — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 03:11:16 +0000

A social disease? Then take him to a social worker!

(sorry, but I can never resist a West Side Story quote!)

By: whyme63

whyme63 — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 01:30:08 +0000

Oh, that’s just friggin’ great. On top of everything else, now I’ve got a social disease.

By: mo pie

mo pie — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 23:45:56 +0000

I kind of want to punch whoever wrote this headline.

By: enchanted_black

enchanted_black — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 23:02:30 +0000

Fuck CNN because they don’t even practice good journalism anymore and fuck my fat being contagious! If that was the case then I should be as skinny as a toothpick because most of my friends growing up were slender little things. What a load of tosh.

By: bethany

bethany — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 22:02:25 +0000

i’m fat. none of my friends are. some of them have been my close friends for over a decade. how long does it take that fat contagion to kick in, anyway? i’ll have to ask my friends on our next hike… Fck CNN.