Messages designed to encourage weight loss could have opposite effect

Washington : Weight-stigmatizing messages shown by media – ones characterizing overweight individuals as lazy, weak-willed, self-indulgent and contributing to rising health care costs – could be tipping the scales in the wrong direction, a new research has suggested, reports ANI.

According to UC Santa Barbara psychology professor Brenda Major’s research, when women who perceive themselves as overweight are exposed to weight-stigmatizing news articles, they are less able to control their eating afterward than are women who don’t perceive themselves that way. The researchers asked half of the participants to read a mock article from The New York Times titled “Lose Weight or Lose Your Job.” The other half read a similar article, “Quit Smoking or Lose Your Job.” After reading the articles, participants were asked to describe them via video camera to someone who was unfamiliar with the content.