Parents and Genes

During our class discussion on obesity in social networks, the lack of information regarding parent - child relationships was brought up. I think that the parents' role in a child's weight is significant in many cases. Personally, my parents were very health conscious and limited our fast food intake (which may have backfired when my parents need a quick meal and we did not want any fast food). When me and my sister were little we would ask for a treat after dinner and get handed an apple or some other fruit and be thrilled. These eating habits were ingrained in me and even while on my own in college I incorporate many fruits and vegetables into my diet because it is what I know. Parents are the first to introduce eating habits and diets which I think is more important than seeing a friend has stopped going to the gym. This is true for siblings as well who probably grew up with similar eating habits. Maybe a sibling gains weight when their brother or sister gain weight because they have the same eating habits and they are only a few years apart. Their genetics are similar and may have their metabolism change at close to the same time. The genetics factor could also be present in the parent - child relationship and looking at what age a parent gained weight and when the child did.

In addition to the skepticisms I have about the origins of the spread of obesity, I also question the inital source and influence of these trends. First, what determines why the first "pebbles" gain weight? And second, if someone loses weight and someone gains weight, who influences who? I know personally if both my sister, whom I am very close to and is a nurse, lost weight and my aunt, whom eats fast food all the time and has diabetes, gained weight I would be influenced by my sister. I think we are constantly influenced by people in our lives, media, education, parents, and more and isolating a trend of what people are responding to is almost impossible. Some people are influenced by the skinny models, others change their image of what is acceptable if a friend gains weight, and others rely on what they were taught as a child. All those differences plus the genetics factor makes it hard for me to completely buy into the generalizations made by Christakis and Fowler about the spreading of obesity.