No, researchers aren’t suggesting that entire families undergo bariatric surgery.  But a new study by Woodward, Encarnacion, Peraza, Hernandez – Boussard & Morton (2011) published last month suggests that when one family member underwent bariatric surgery – the rest of the family reaped benefits as well.

As explained in this article by Kristina Fiore at Medpage – there is a family-wide health benefit after bariatric surgery.  After one family member had surgery, other adult members in the family tended to modify their eating habits as well, and subsequently lost weight.  While this study was small, with just 35 families – it shows the huge impact that sociological factors (such as family dietary practices/ habits) have on obesity and health.