By Anne Harding NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Obesity may be contagious because most people feel good about themselves if they are about as heavy as the people around them, according to new research from an international team of economists. This could explain the rapid rise in the prevalence of overweight around the world, the researchers say. That is, the norm that most people compare themselves to has become fatter and fatter, feeding a cycle of "imitative obesity." "What we're finding is that human beings are probably driven tremendously by comparison. Unless you understand those comparisons, you're not going to understand the rate of obesity," Dr. Andrew J. Oswald of the University of Warwick in the UK told Reuters Health. "Understanding the sociology of obesity is much more important than understanding the biology." Last...
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