Fat shaming is unkind and you shouldn’t do it, because, you know, you’re a decent person. But it could also make an already obese patient’s health even worse.
A new study published in the journal Obesity has found that internalised shame around being fat is associated with an increased health risk.
Co-Author Rebecca Pearl, from the University of Pennsylvania said: “There is a common misconception that stigma might help motivate individuals with obesity to lose weight and improve their health.
“We are finding it has quite the opposite effect.
“When people feel shamed because of their weight, they are more likely to avoid exercise and consume more calories to cope with this stress.”
Tom Wadden, another co-author on the paper, said that delicate handling of the topic by doctors was key to stopping patients internalising these ideas and suffering more from obesity-related disease as a result.
“Providers can play a critical role in decreasing this internalisation by treating patients with respect, discussing weight with sensitivity and without judgment, and giving support and encouragement to patients,” he said.
The study gave obese patients a questionnaire that gauged their “weight bias internalisation” and depression.
They assumed these internalised feelings were a result of receiving personally directed or general negative messages about weight, aka fat shaming.
Patients were also given medical examinations to check if they had metabolic syndrome – a number of obesity-related risks (high blood pressure, unhealthy fat in the blood, waist circumference) that lead to diabetes and heart disease among other illnesses.
Those with high internalised weight bias were three times as likely to have metabolic syndrome, and six times as prone to high levels of fat in the blood.
The verdict here is clear and scientist-approved: Don’t be a terrible person.
