Weight loss spreads within couples in ?ripple effect?

When one-half of a couple embraces good health, there?s a higher likelihood that the other half will, too, a recent study suggests.

?The concept is called the ripple effect and it means that weight loss interventions delivered to one spouse have unintended, but positive benefits on the other spouse,? said study coauthor Amy Gorin, Associate Professor in Psychological Sciences at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. ?That is, spouses that are not actively involved in (a diet) treatment also tend to lose weight.?

Gorin and colleagues noted online Feb. 1 in the journal Obesity that weight within couples tends to be proportionally equivalent between partners at the outset.

Couples committed to health tend to enhance each other?s motivation and adherence to diet and exercise-related behaviors. But the opposite is also true. If one partner becomes obese during the course of the relationship, there is a good chance the other will too, the authors note.

The new findings suggest, however, that just because one partner isn?t actively receiving weight loss guidance doesn?t necessarily mean he or she won?t reap the same rewards as the health-seeking significant other.

?There?s power in community when it comes to healthy behavior change,? Foster said.

Still, more work needs to be done to fully understand this ripple effect.

?We need more research to understand how to harness the power of behavior change within households,? Gorin said by email. ?Spouses clearly influence each others? weight-related choices. But how can we leverage this within interventions to produce greater and more sustained changes??