1 in 6 US women prefer to be blind than obese--survey

The survey, that included 100 women, found that people would opt for diseases that are difficult or impossible to be treated than favoring obesity.

“When you see that something like obesity spreads among close friends and family members, this raises important questions about how it’s spreading,” the Daily Mail quoted lead researcher Daniel Hruschka as saying.

“Is it because we learn ideas about acceptable body size from our friends and family members, or that we hike together, watch TV together or go out to eat together?

“If we can figure out exactly why obesity spreads among friends and family members, that can tell us where to focus resources in curbing rates of obesity. Is it more effective to change people’s ideals of acceptable body size in hopes that they will change their behaviour or rather directly target socially shared behaviour that can contribute to weight gain or loss?”

Study details and findings
For the present study, the research team interviewed 100 women and asked whether they would prefer being obese or have 12 other socially stigmatised conditions including alcoholism and depression.

In a bid to determine whether shared ideas led overweight people socialize together, the researchers also studied women's attitudes towards obesity.

Though, there was a little evidence that shared ideas played a role in promoting obesity, experts believe “what people do together and not what they think” shapes starting of the epidemic.

Researchers also spoke to participants' family and friends and found that having overweight close friends and relatives increases the likelihood of being obese by several folds.

Findings suggest that over-eating together and lack of exercise is much more important in making a group of friends and family get fat, the Daily Mail reports.

Co-researcher Alexandra Brewis, said, “This study is important because it shows that while the clustering of people with larger or smaller bodies is real, it is not shared values between friends that accounts for it.

“This gives us important clues about the best ways to tackle obesity as a public health issue; we need to focus on what people do together, rather than what people think.”

Word of advice
Current statistics reveal that around 5.5 million Britons are suffering from the obesity epidemic.

Tam Fry, spokesman for the National Obesity Forum, said of the findings, published in the 'American Journal of Public Health,' “It’s extraordinary that women would choose to be blind, or have other severe health problems, in preference to obesity.

“Being obese is avoidable by taking steps to maintain a healthy weight, eating properly and taking exercise, and even if you are obese there are effective ways to lose weight.

“It’s surprising that it takes an academic study to tell us what seems fairly clear, that people tend to socialise with others of a similar size and there is a tendency for them to have similar eating and exercise habits.

“Other US research found you don’t necessarily become fat if you’ve got a fat neighbour, but if you travel 20 miles to have dinner with fat friends you’ll probably be fat.

“The answer is not to drop your fat friends, but start eating more sensibly together and taking exercise,” he added.