Weight jibes may drive people to eat more and become fatter instead of pressurising them to slim down, a new study has found.
Researchers Angelina Sutin and Antonio Terracciano from the Florida State University College of Medicine compared the height and weight of over 6000 participants, measured in 2006 and 2010.
They found that participants who experienced weight discrimination earlier were 2.5 times more likely to become obese by the follow-up assessment in 2010.
Obese participants who perceived weight discrimination in 2006 were more likely to remain obese at the later time than those who had not experienced such discrimination, researchers said.
Discrimination based on other factors, such as sex or race, did not appear to have the same correlation with weight, they said.
The effect of 'weightism' also appeared independent of demographic factors like age, gender, ethnicity or education.
The researchers conclude that weight discrimination has further implications for obesity than just poorer mental health outcomes.
"In addition to the well-known emotional and economic costs, our results suggest that weight discrimination also increases risk of obesity," Sutin said.
"This could lead to a vicious cycle where individuals who are overweight and obese are more vulnerable to weight discrimination, and this discrimination may contribute to subsequent obesity and difficulties with weight management," said Sutin.
The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE by.
