The difference in average weight gain was a statistically significant 2lb

At Ukmedix News have written plenty about how the power of peer pressure can motivate individuals to lose weight and also how your friends, colleagues and family can influence you into shedding weight and even gaining weight. One 2007 study published by the New England Journal of Medicine described obesity as being contagious in social circles and warned that your obese friends could be making you fat.

A new study however has come up with the opposite conclusion!  The research was done using 144 female university students who were given roommates randomly at the start of their first year. The researchers made note of their weight, height, their dietary and exercise habits and any other weight management techniques.

The results pointed to the conclusion that the participants who were placed in rooms with students who were overweight tended to put on less weight over the course of their first year when compared to those participants who were placed with normal weight students.  The difference in average weight gain was a statistically significant 2lb. [0.5lb. compared to 2.5lb.]

One of the study authors Professor Kandice Kapinos from the University of Michigan explained that it was probably not the actual weight of the roommate which was having an effect but the behaviour and habits of that roommate.

For example overweight students tend to be much more conscious and aware of what they eat and are continually dieting and trying to get exercise in order to lose weight. This therefore was likely to make the roommates more conscious of their own diet and exercise patterns too.

At Ukmedix News we speculated that another reason for the smaller weight increase could have been due to the fact that living with an overweight person would highlight the trials and tribulations that they have to go through which could be a significant motivation to stay slim.

This research which was presented to the AGM of the American Society of Health Economists could be put to good use by universities who may be able to strategically place individual students to minimize overall weight gain over the year.