Literally. Researchers claim in the New England Journal of Medicine that we have blobs of brown fat, which can burn huge numbers of calories when activated by the cold, such as sitting in a chilly room between 61 and 66 degrees.
Once again, science comes to the rescue. Turn down the thermostat, throw out the Stairmaster, save money on heating oil and slim down. Was that issue of the Journal dated April lst?
Showing posts with label New England Journal of Medicine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New England Journal of Medicine. Show all posts
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Can Facebook Make You Fat?
If absence makes the heart grow fonder, proximity can make the whole body fatter.
The Harvard Medical School suggests obesity is a virus transmitted by friends and family. A study of more than 12,000 people over 32 years finds social networks are crucial to putting on weight.
The influence apparently goes well beyond getting together and ordering pizza. According to the researchers, when one spouse gets fat, the other is 37 percent more likely to, compared with other couples. Brothers of obese men have a 40 percent higher chance of blimping up, too.
The risk is even greater among friends, between 57 and 171 percent, even when they live far apart, leading to the conclusion that “new social norms can proliferate quickly.”
Nicholas A. Christakis of Harvard Medical School, who led the study, to be published in the New England Journal of Medicine, concluded, “We are finding evidence for a kind of social contagion."
So the answer to keeping weight down is obvious: Stay away from sumo wrestlers, and hang out with fashion models.
The Harvard Medical School suggests obesity is a virus transmitted by friends and family. A study of more than 12,000 people over 32 years finds social networks are crucial to putting on weight.
The influence apparently goes well beyond getting together and ordering pizza. According to the researchers, when one spouse gets fat, the other is 37 percent more likely to, compared with other couples. Brothers of obese men have a 40 percent higher chance of blimping up, too.
The risk is even greater among friends, between 57 and 171 percent, even when they live far apart, leading to the conclusion that “new social norms can proliferate quickly.”
Nicholas A. Christakis of Harvard Medical School, who led the study, to be published in the New England Journal of Medicine, concluded, “We are finding evidence for a kind of social contagion."
So the answer to keeping weight down is obvious: Stay away from sumo wrestlers, and hang out with fashion models.
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