January 17th, 2011 04:59 PM ET There's a lot of focus these days
on tailoring treatments for diseases to individuals based on
their genes, but friends' genes might be just as relevant,
scientists argue. It turns out that there are genetic
correlations among people in the same social group, a new study
in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
finds. "We’re not just a product of our own genes, but those of
others around us," said study co-author James Fowler, associate
professor at the University of California, San Diego. Fowler and
Dr. Nicholas Christakis of Harvard, another study collaborator,
previously penned a book called Connected detailing how
everything from obesity to happiness to loneliness seems to
spread in social networks. The genetic links found in this new
study go beyond the idea that you might be friends with your
second cousins other distant relatives. Instead, this research
shows that you may actually share predispositions toward certain
behaviors with your friends, rega