Fat girls: those who are teased gain weight
All content is checked by medical journalists.MunichShould you speak to little girls who are chubby about it? Better not, show the results of an American study. Anyone who is described as “too fat” as a child has a higher risk of becoming really obese later on.
Attempts to lose weight because of stigma are seldom successful. "The stigmatization blocks the ability of those affected to change their behavior," writes the team led by Janet Tomiyama from the University of California. This is now also confirmed by a long-term study. It shows that such an effect can affect little girls. Real bullying is not even necessary for this: the fact that you are classified as "too fat" can have negative effects on your subsequent weight.
"You are too fat"
For their study, the researchers measured the height and weight of a total of 2,379 ten-year-old girls. In addition, the children were asked whether their parents, siblings, friends, classmates and teachers had once or repeatedly described them as “too fat”. In addition, the scientists recorded other factors that could have an influence on the weight of the children, such as the income of the parents, the nationality, when the girls reached puberty - these data were taken into account in the later calculations. After nine years, the researchers determined the weight and height of the study participants again.
Fatal effects after a decade
At the age of ten, 58 percent of the girls were told that they were “too fat”. The influence of the family was particularly great: if family members described the children as too fat, their risk of later obesity was 66 percent higher than the average. If the stigma came from outside, the risk was still 44 percent higher. This relationship persisted even when the original BMI was removed from the results: Even girls of normal weight were more likely to become fat later if their figure was addressed negatively. “We were very surprised that stigmatization can be measured almost a decade later,” says Tomiyama of these results.
Eating as a balance
The scientists suspect that the stigmatization may mean increased psychological stress. “The girls are afraid of being discriminated against. Some then compensate for this with food, ”says Tomiyama.
As a next step, the scientists now want to check whether the level of the stress hormone cortisol increases in girls who are described as too fat. Previous studies had shown that there was a direct relationship between the amount of cortisol in the body and weight gain.
People with a BMI over 30 are considered severely overweight or obese. The large amount of fatty tissue can lead to secondary diseases such as type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular problems. (away)
Source: Jeffrey M. Hunger et al .: Weight Labeling and ObesityA Longitudinal Study of Girls Aged 10 to 19 Years, Tomiyama et al., JAMA Pediatrics, April 2014; JAMA Pediatr. Published online April 28, 2014. doi: 10.1001 / jamapediatrics.2014.122
