MAYA VADIVELOO, assistant professor of nutrition and food sciences in the College of Health Sciences at the University of Rhode Island, has discovered that discrimination based on weight is linked to adverse health effects. Vadiveloo and Harvard University assistant professor Josiemer Mattei analyzed data from the national study “Midlife Development in the United States,” focusing their research on respondents who reported regularly experiencing discrimination because of their weight. Their findings were recently published in Annals of Behavior Medicine.
What were the main findings of your analysis?
We found adults who experienced weight-related discrimination had more than twice the risk of having multisystem physiological dysregulation after 10 years, even after accounting for other forms of discrimination, excess weight and other risk factors. This suggests that experiencing weight discrimination has negative, independent, long-term health effects.
What should we do as individuals to battle weight discrimination?
We can battle weight-related discrimination by training health professionals, the media and communities on how to talk about the condition, and by developing public health campaigns and tailored treatments that treat people with obesity respectfully.
Does your research account for the effects of weight discrimination in the media and online?
Adults in this study reported how frequently they experienced discrimination within interpersonal relationships on a day-to-day basis across nine scenarios, which did not include the media or specifically include or exclude online settings.
How can society better approach obesity without victimizing people?
We should recognize we live in an obesogenic society that negatively affects the health of many children and adults. We should implement public health and policy approaches that make it easier for people to eat healthful diets and engage in physical activity, and support … laws against weight-related discrimination. •
