Firstborns are [more likely to be] Fatter, Who Would Have Thought?

[Glaurung]

My older (eldest) brother is way fatter AND way richer than me.

Also, he has brown eyes, likes baseball and is narcoleptic.

 

If you have money you can access better foods, but that doesn't mean that people with money actually will do it all the time.  If you want to eat a healthy lifestyle, particularly an organic lifestyle, it helps to have money.  But wealth can just as easily contribute to obesity, because if you choose to spend your money on food, you might eat out more often, order chinese takeout rather than cooking your own food, and you're not thinking twice financially about going for ice cream on a consistent basis.  

[Jo498]

O.k., I agree that spoiling a firstborn by inexperienced parents is quite probable, especially in countries with lots of sweets and softdrinks...

My parents were fairly strict with sweets but also with the younger siblings. Softdrinks were a rare treat and while there was usually desert and often simple cake in the afternoon, extra snacks were strictly limited. Anyway, probably even the sweets were healthier in the 70s or we just ran around so much in the garden that we stayed skinny.

[Littlefingers In The Air]

In my situation, I was a little boy in a house with two girls, plus mom and grandma. Because it's a traditional Christian household with all your typical gender stereotypes, they just had to make sure I grew up big and strong, and so I was forced into the biggest serving every night for dinner, plus forced to eat seconds. So that may have contributed to current issues.

[Glaurung]

In my situation, I was a little boy in a house with two girls, plus mom and grandma. Because it's a traditional Christian household with all your typical gender stereotypes, they just had to make sure I grew up big and strong, and so I was forced into the biggest serving every night for dinner, plus forced to eat seconds. So that may have contributed to current issues.

 

Our next door neighbors growing up had a mother who used to feed her daughter.  She made her finish the plate every time even if she didn't want to.  She never seemed to do that with her daughters.  I have no idea why.  Her daughter of course grew up to have eating disorders and was SEVERELY obese.  IMO this should be seen as childhood endangerment.  It is not healthy, force feeding your children.

 

BTW, in her mid 20s, living on her own, she decided she had enough of being morbidly obese.  She started eating healthy and walking(eventually running) several miles every night.  She ended up losing 200+ lbs.  She is an inspiration. 

[Eponine]

Are siblings more likely than strangers of the same demographics to have similar adult weights? Does it matter whether they were raised together or not? 

 

I'm the 7th biologically and have always been smaller/thinner than the average American woman. I was raised as an only child on an American diet starting ~6 months and I'd bet good money that I was heavier at age 18 than most of my sisters. 

[Glaurung]

Are siblings more likely than strangers of the same demographics to have similar adult weights? Does it matter whether they were raised together or not? 

 

I'm the 7th biologically and have always been smaller/thinner than the average American woman. I was raised as an only child on an American diet starting ~6 months and I'd bet good money that I was heavier at age 18 than most of my sisters. 

 

Probably.  Genetics has a part to play, and siblings usually learn similar diet/exercise behaviors being that they are raised in similar environments.  

 

What would be interesting is studies of siblings who are not raised together, and their environments are noticeably different from each other.