Obesity: self-hatred makes you sick

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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Sluggish, incompetent, weak-willed and your own fault: There are many prejudices about "fat". That makes life difficult for them. But it becomes really problematic when you believe in the wrong ideas yourself. A negative self-image not only makes you unhappy, but also makes you physically ill.

Being very overweight puts a strain on the whole body. Among other things, obese people often develop a metabolic syndrome. This means that they are not only overweight, but also suffer from type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and a lipid metabolism disorder. This also increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Rebecca Pearl and her colleagues at Penn's Center for Weight and Eating Disorders in Philadelphia studied how obese people's self-image affects their health.

Unhealthy feelings of shame

It becomes problematic when overweight people have internalized the common prejudices against "fat". They are ashamed of their bodies and blame themselves for their excess weight. If this self-stigmatization is very pronounced, the risk of a metabolic syndrome is three times as high as that of self-confident overweight people.

There are various plausible reasons for this connection: "When people are ashamed of their weight, they avoid physical activity and eat even more because of the loud stress," says study leader Pearl.

Stress promotes inflammatory processes

But there are also direct physiological effects of psychological stress on the body: For example, psychological stress fuels inflammatory processes, among other things. And these in turn promote type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and arteriosclerosis - and thus strokes and heart attacks.

Pearl and her colleagues interviewed and examined 150 obese people. They determined the physical condition, among other things, on the basis of data such as BMI, blood pressure, abdominal circumference, fasting blood sugar and blood lipid values. The researchers also recorded possible depressive symptoms. Above all, however, they determined to what extent the participants had internalized negative stereotypes against overweight people.

"There is a common misconception that stigma can help people who are overweight lose weight and stay healthy," says Pearl. "But we found exactly the opposite effect."

Relieve overweight people emotionally

The researchers therefore demand responsible and sensitive treatment of overweight people - from doctors and the media as well as from fellow human beings. Overweight people should be treated with respect and sensitivity, without judging them.

In order to prevent self-stigmatization, it is also important to explain to overweight people the extent to which genetic, biological and environmental factors contribute to a person becoming too fat.

Source:

Rebecca Pearl et al .: Association between weight bias internalization and metabolic syndrome among treatment-seeking individuals with obesity: Obesity, 26 January 2017, doi: 10.1002 / oby.21716

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