Making fun of someone for being fat does not work, and a new study found that fat shaming can actually make some people eat more.
A University College London study released this week looked at the effects of fat shaming, or discrimination based on weight. After studying the habits of 2,944 U.K. adults over 50 for over four years, researchers found that this does not encourage them to lose weight. The data came from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.
Those who said they experienced fat shaming gained 0.95 kg (2 lbs) over that time period on average, while those who didn’t actually lost 0.71kg (1.5 lbs) on average.
“There is no justification for discriminating against people because of their weight,” the lead author, Dr Sarah Jackson of UCL Epidemiology & Public Health, said. “Our results show that weight discrimination does not encourage weight loss, and suggest that it may even exacerbate weight gain.”
Jackson explained, “Previous studies have found that people who experience discrimination report comfort eating.” She noted that stress could increase appetite for unhealthy foods and fat shaming also makes people less confident about exercising.
According to the Washington Post, today’s findings were published in the journal Obesity. It should be noted that their study is based on a survey, not hard data that could point out a more direct connection between weight gain and fat shaming.