Social stigma of obesity

No more BMI, diets or ‘bad’ foods: why changing how we teach kids about weight and nutrition is long overdue

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Or perhaps we remember references to calories and diets in the classroom.

Key Points: 
  • Or perhaps we remember references to calories and diets in the classroom.
  • Given what we know about the links between weight stigma and the development of eating disorders, they’re long overdue.

Weight stigma starts early

  • Weight stigma and diet culture are rife in our society.
  • On the flip side, the latest diets and other weight loss techniques are regularly hot topics of conversation among friends and colleagues.
  • Peer teasing for size, weight and shape is common and increases the risk of a child or young person developing an eating disorder.

Fostering positive body image

  • For eating disorders specifically, positive role modelling by adults around how we talk about our own and others’ bodies is crucial.
  • Research shows learning about body acceptance and appreciation is important for both males and females in developing a positive body image.
  • Teachers have an important role in educating our children about body respect and having a healthy relationship with their bodies and eating.

How to talk about food with kids

  • We need to talk about food for its function in our bodies (such as carbohydrates for energy and fats for our brain).
  • We should talk about foods we eat to help us concentrate and fuel our bodies as well as making us strong and helping us feel well.
  • Here's why

    Food should also be presented as an enjoyable and a social activity (for example, sharing food with others).

Everyone has a role

  • As adults we have to work really hard to be better role models.
  • While teachers play a crucial role, children also need other adults to go to who make them feel understood and accepted.


Dr Vivienne Lewis works for the University of Canberra and runs her own Clinical Psychology practice.

Americans Now Have an Obesity Bill of Rights

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, January 31, 2024

ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Because obesity – the most prevalent and costly chronic disease in the United States – remains largely undiagnosed and untreated a decade after the American Medical Association (AMA) classified it as a serious disease requiring comprehensive care,1 the National Consumers League (NCL) and National Council on Aging (NCOA) today introduced the nation's first Obesity Bill of Rights and launched a grassroots movement – Right2ObesityCare – to advance changes in federal, state, and employer policies that will ensure these rights are incorporated into medical practice.

Key Points: 
  • The Obesity Bill of Rights aims to address the unique challenges people with this condition face when seeking care.
  • -Ramsey Alwin, NCOA President and CEO
    Developed in consultation with leading obesity specialists and endorsed by nearly 40 national obesity and chronic disease organizations, the Obesity Bill of Rights establishes eight essential rights, so people with obesity will be screened, diagnosed, counseled, and treated according to medical guidelines and no longer face widespread weight bias and ageism within the health care system or exclusionary coverage policies by insurers and government agencies.
  • "For too long, adults with obesity have encountered a health care system that is working against them.
  • They have been stigmatized, discriminated against, not treated with respect by their health providers, and have faced significant hurdles and burdensome requirements to receive obesity care."

Transcarent Launches One Place for Weight Health

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, January 17, 2024

With the One Place for Weight Health, each Transcarent Member has access to an individualized plan designed to meet the needs of their specific weight health journey, informed by analytics, clinical insights, and clinical protocols.

Key Points: 
  • With the One Place for Weight Health, each Transcarent Member has access to an individualized plan designed to meet the needs of their specific weight health journey, informed by analytics, clinical insights, and clinical protocols.
  • Members have access to health coaching, testing devices and supplies, labs, and diagnostic support throughout their weight health journey.
  • Behavioral Coaching - Specific behavioral coaching resources for weight health, including addressing weight stigma, health at every size, and cognitive approaches to eating are available to support Members throughout their weight health journey.
  • Transcarent’s Weight Health care experience also facilitates comprehensive chronic condition care for all disease states that are impacted by weight health and can seamlessly integrate into an employer’s existing benefit ecosystem.

WeightWatchers Unveils “Beyond Hunger: Understanding Food Noise” Report Offering Insights Into the Experience of Ongoing, Intrusive Thoughts About Food

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, January 16, 2024

“The difference between food noise being problematic or not comes down to how often and how intensely it’s occurring.

Key Points: 
  • “The difference between food noise being problematic or not comes down to how often and how intensely it’s occurring.
  • Food noise that occurs daily can be so intense and intrusive that it negatively impacts food choices and quality of life,” said Dr. Spencer Nadolsky, obesity and lipid specialist physician and medical director, WeightWatchers.
  • “With constant, intrusive thoughts about food, it’s difficult to navigate behavioral change without clinical help.
  • Yet, because of the depth of weight-related stigma, food noise is often ignored as a contributing factor to obesity.

knownwell Raises $20M Series A From A16Z to Scale the First Patient-Centered Healthcare Home For Those With Overweight and Obesity

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, December 20, 2023

knownwell is founded by Brooke Boyarsky Pratt, who has had lifelong obesity, and Dr. Angela Fitch, the President of the Obesity Medicine Association.

Key Points: 
  • knownwell is founded by Brooke Boyarsky Pratt, who has had lifelong obesity, and Dr. Angela Fitch, the President of the Obesity Medicine Association.
  • "Obesity is perhaps our country's greatest healthcare challenge, from both a clinical and cost perspective,” said Vineeta Agarwala, General Partner at A16Z.
  • “Patients with overweight and obesity know how hard it is to find comprehensive, insurance-based, non-stigmatizing and clinically-based healthcare.
  • knownwell makes weight-inclusive healthcare more accessible by accepting patient insurance to provide full suite care without membership fees.

How Well Are Canadians Supported for Obesity While Being Treated for Related Chronic Diseases?

Retrieved on: 
Monday, October 2, 2023

Survey design and results are published in Obesity Pillars .

Key Points: 
  • Survey design and results are published in Obesity Pillars .
  • "In Canada, it's estimated that around 15% of adults live with multiple chronic diseases, a significant portion of which developed downstream from obesity.
  • Moreover, obesity can exacerbate the symptoms of these conditions," stated Dr. Megha Poddar, MD, FRCPC, ABOM.
  • "Despite the evidence suggesting that managing obesity can improve outcomes for these other diseases, it is evident that a majority of these patients are not receiving the necessary interventions."

Inaugural ‘State of Weight Care’ Report Reveals Employers are Grappling with How to Navigate Obesity Coverage

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, September 12, 2023

The 2023 report illuminates what employers and benefits decision-makers need to do to support employees on their healthcare journeys.

Key Points: 
  • The 2023 report illuminates what employers and benefits decision-makers need to do to support employees on their healthcare journeys.
  • The report found that nearly one-third of employers currently include weight loss medications in their benefits packages.
  • Another 62% of employers have experienced a recent increase in spend for GLP-1 medications, a class of drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity.
  • Overall, it's also ranked the top must-have element of any weight management program when evaluating available programs in the market.

Online gaming communities could provide a lifeline for isolated young men − new research

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Online gaming communities could be a vital lifeline for young men struggling silently with mental health issues, according to new research.

Key Points: 
  • Online gaming communities could be a vital lifeline for young men struggling silently with mental health issues, according to new research.
  • Up to 75% of people with mental illnesses go without treatment, with men especially unlikely to pursue counseling or therapy.
  • Online social spaces, like gaming communities, may offer an alternative avenue to find connection and discuss serious personal problems without the barriers of formal mental health services.
  • More comprehensive research is still needed, but the social features of online games may literally provide young men a lifeline when they have nowhere else to turn.

Renaming obesity won't fix weight stigma overnight. Here's what we really need to do

Retrieved on: 
Sunday, July 30, 2023

Some researchers think the term “obesity” itself is part of the problem, and are calling for a name change to reduce stigma.

Key Points: 
  • Some researchers think the term “obesity” itself is part of the problem, and are calling for a name change to reduce stigma.
  • We study the stigma that surrounds obesity – around the time of pregnancy, among health professionals and health students, and in public health more widely.
  • Here’s what’s really needed to reduce weight stigma.

Weight stigma is common

    • Up to 42% of adults living in larger bodies experience weight stigma.
    • Weight stigma is associated with harms including increased cortisol levels (the main stress hormone in the body), negative body image, increased weight gain, and poor mental health.
    • Weight stigma may even pose a greater threat to someone’s health than increasing body size.

Should we rename obesity?

    • Calls to remove or rename health conditions or identifications to reduce stigma are not new.
    • Following many years of protests and activism, the term and condition were removed from the globally recognised classification of mental health disorders.
    • Perhaps it is finally time to follow suit and rename obesity.

A new name needs to go beyond BMI

    • First, most people use the term for people with a body-mass index (BMI) of 30kg/m² or above.
    • Most, if not all, public health organisations also use BMI to categorise obesity and make assumptions about health.
    • However, BMI alone is not enough to accurately summarise someone’s health.

Is obesity a disease anyway?

    • Yet there is still no universal consensus on whether obesity is a disease.
    • By this definition, obesity may not be classified as a disease until after harm from the additional weight occurs.
    • Renaming obesity may improve public understanding that while obesity is often associated with an increase in BMI, the increased BMI itself is not the disease.

Workshopping alternatives


    Before deciding to rename obesity, we need discussions between obesity and stigma experts, health-care professionals, members of the public, and crucially, people living with obesity. Such discussions can ensure robust evidence informs any future decisions, and proposed new terms are not also stigmatising.

    Read more:
    Today's disease names are less catchy, but also less likely to cause stigma

What else can we do?

    • Our constant exposure to the socially-defined and acceptable idealisation of smaller bodies (the “thin ideal”) and the pervasiveness of weight stigma means this stigma is deeply ingrained at a societal level.
    • Blake Lawrence is a member of The Obesity Society and The Obesity Collective.

Body Dissatisfaction Contributes to the Development of Eating Disorders, According to Alsana Experts

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT), an approach that promotes shame resilience and self-compassion, is a key component of Alsana 's eating disorder treatment programming and a powerful tool to combat the harmful effects of body dissatisfaction.

Key Points: 
  • Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT), an approach that promotes shame resilience and self-compassion, is a key component of Alsana 's eating disorder treatment programming and a powerful tool to combat the harmful effects of body dissatisfaction.
  • It is a known risk factor for eating disorders and other mental health issues including depression, anxiety, and suicidality.
  • Body dissatisfaction is defined as negative attitudes towards one’s body, resulting from a perceived discrepancy between how one perceives their own body and their “ideal body.” Mental Health Awareness Month, recognized annually in May, is an opportunity to address the harmful, diet culture messages that contribute to body dissatisfaction and the development of eating disorders, which are among the deadliest mental illnesses.
  • “These ideas perpetuate fatphobia, which we know contributes to body image dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and to worse mental and physical health outcomes.”
    “Many eating disorder clients come to us with a self-compassion deficit,” said Russo.