Study shows 'being fat in today's world' invites social
discrimination

Obese people feel "a culture of blame" against them, which they say
has been made worse by media reports about the health risks of
obesity, a new study from Australia found. The results will be
presented Tuesday, June 17, at The Endocrine Society's 90th Annual
Meeting in San Francisco.


Researchers at Monash University in Melbourne conducted one-hour
personal interviews with 76 obese individuals (62 females, 14 males),
ranging in age from 16 to 72 years. The aim of the study was to better
address issues of concern to obese people, in an attempt to improve
interventions for the increasing epidemic of obesity, said the lead
author, Paul Komesaroff, MD, PhD, director of the university's Centre
for Ethics in Medicine and Society.

The authors found that the messages from media and health care
professionals to engage in healthy behaviors, such as physical
activity and eating healthier, may actually be doing more harm than
good, Komesaroff said.

"Obese people frequently feel overwhelmed and disheartened by the
publicity about their condition," he said. "They often feel
disrespected and not understood by medical practitioners. Our
participants express the view very forcefully that they feel
victimized by current social attitudes about obesity. To be told that,
in addition to the problems that they recognize only too well, they
are now regarded as 'sick' is unlikely to assist them to find a
solution."

Study participants said they find it difficult to act on the health
messages about obesity, he said. Most participants reported that they
had tried weight loss remedies that their physician recommended and
were generally dissatisfied with the help doctors provide.

Health care providers' efforts to convince overweight patients to lose
weight are largely unsuccessful, Komesaroff believes, possibly because
they do not understand the key issues that obese people face.

"The experience of being obese is often painful," he said. "Many obese
people have major social and psychological issues that doctors and
public health policies [often] do not address."

Nearly 50 percent of the participants (37 of 76) described poor mental
and emotional health, including depression, related to their
overweight, study data showed. Nearly all (72 of 76) said they
experienced humiliation and discrimination regarding their weight,
either in childhood or as adults. Twenty participants—more than 25
percent—regularly tried to lose weight quickly by going without eating
anything for periods—essentially "starving" themselves.

"Our preliminary results indicate that health care providers should do
a more thorough assessment of the needs of individual obese patients
based on a sympathetic and nonjudgmental appreciation of their
problems," Komesaroff said. "Responses may include the setting of
reasonable targets with respect to disease risk factors and a closer
attention to social and psychological issues."

For practices and policies on the prevention and treatment of obesity
to be effective, he believes it will be necessary to include obese
people in the development process.

Source: The Endocrine Society
http://www.physorg.com/news132932857.html