Blame your weight on your childhood companions

20.12.2011 [11:20]
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Baku, December 20 (AZERTAC). Are you obese? Then, blame it on the people with whom you have spent your childhood, says a new study.

The research by a team from the Newcastle University in the UK found that people who were around us during childhood influence how much one weighs as an adult than by those one spends time with during adulthood.

The study compared the weights of 236 pairs of adolescent siblings who lived together, and 838 pairs of adult siblings who did not live together.

In both groups, the body mass indices (BMIs) of siblings became more similar over time. Body mass index is a ratio of weight to height, considered an indicator of body fatness.

The researchers found that family factors, such as heredity and a similar upbringing, explained similarities in BMI in both the siblings who lived together and those siblings who didn`t, LiveScience reported.

This suggests that behaviors formed in childhood are carried into adulthood, said study researcher Heather Brown. "The findings demonstrate the importance of early interventions to prevent obesity," she said.

The results, published in journal Obesity, also suggest the effect of our adult social networks on our weight may have been overestimated, the researchers said.

Blame your weight on your childhood companions

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