New paper in the journal Obesity says weight discrimination goes hand in hand with significant weight gain

Sep 12, 2014 20:03 GMT  ·  By

It's a commonly held belief that, the more often overweight and obese individuals are told that they really should get in shape, the more likely they are to get to work slimming down. As it turns out, this is not the case.

On the contrary, a recent paper in the journal Obesity says that fat-shaming, otherwise known as weight discrimination, not only does not promote weight loss, but instead has high chances to make people get even plumper.

The method

Looking to determine whether or not fat-shaming has any influence on weight loss, specialists with the University College London in the UK spent over 4 years monitoring as many as 2,944 adults living in this country.

As part of this research project, the scientists not only kept tabs on the size of these people's waistline, but also had them answer questions concerning how they were being treated by others on a day-to-day basis.

More precisely, the participants to this study were asked to comment on how often they were being discriminated against based on their weight. As detailed by Science Daily, harassment and poor service in shops and restaurants were included among the examples of weight discrimination.

The results

When the 4-year study period came to an end, the University College London specialists weighed the 2,944 volunteers one last time, and found that some were slimmer and others were a wee plumper than at the beginning of the investigation.

Interestingly enough, the researchers found that the folks who reported experiencing weight discrimination had gained an average 0.95 kilograms (2.09 pounds). By comparison, those who did not experience fat-shaming were found to have lost an average 0.71 kilograms (1.56 pounds).

Importance of this study

Writing in the journal Obesity, the specialists behind this research project argue that, all things considered, the findings of this investigation just go to show that, contrary to what many believe, fat-shaming is highly unlikely to help bring down the global obesity rate.

This is because, when discriminated against, overweight people are likely to comfort-eat and avoid taking part in physical activities for fear that others will poke fun at them.

“There is no justification for discriminating against people because of their weight. Our results show that weight discrimination does not encourage weight loss, and suggest that it may even exacerbate weight gain,” Dr. Sarah Jackson wished to stress. “Our study clearly shows that weight discrimination is part of the obesity problem and not the solution,” added Professor Jane Wardle.