My fiance mentioned something to me today about an article she read in "Women's Health" magazine. She said it was telling her that if you can get a larger group of friends, you could shrink your waistline. How did the analysts doing this test come to their conclusion? WITH MICE!

When mice were moved from an environment where they had a few pals to one they shared with 15 to 20 rodent roommates, they shed 50 percent of their belly fat within four weeks.

Somehow the more engaging environment caused white fat, the stuff that causes the pudge, to turn into brown fat, a type that burns calories. As if mice can really compare to us, but humans also have both kinds of fat, so it is a fair comparison.

I think research is better served trying to cure the diseases that kill us, but losing weight can make a person live a healthy life, so this helps a bit. More research is needed to determine why this happens, but stepping up your social life might pay off on the scales... and we are not talking stepping up you social "networking " life to lose the weight.

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