Fat shame does not promote health: Attempting weight loss because of weight-based teasing is associated with elevated blood pressure, inflammation, and skipping meals among U.S. youth

IF 5 2区医学 Q1 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

Social Science & Medicine Pub Date : 2025-10-01 DOI:10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118636

Jennifer M. Cullin , Kurt E. White

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objectives

Some argue fat shame improves health by motivating weight loss efforts; however, fat stigma has been linked to worsened cardiovascular health, inflammation, and higher allostatic load (AL) in adults. This may be driven by physiological and behavioral responses to fat stigma. Less is known about how weight-based teasing (WBT) is linked to AL, cardiometabolic health, and inflammation in youth. We assessed WBT as a motivation, weight loss strategies, and biomarkers in youth attempting weight loss.

Methods

Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2005–2012) included motivations for attempted weight loss and covariates among 957 U.S. youths aged8-15 years. We compared weight loss strategies, AL, and cardiometabolic/immune function markers between U.S. youth who did and did not attempt weight loss because of WBT.

Results

Participants citing WBT as motivation were twice as likely to skip meals (OR = 2.01; p = 0.01), had higher diastolic blood pressure (β = 2.67; p = 0.04), and higher C-reactive protein (β = 1.46; p = 0.01) than those citing other motivating factors. AL did not vary statistically significantly between the two groups (β = 0.12; p = 0.06).

Conclusions

Motivation from WBT was linked to elevated diastolic blood pressure and C-reactive protein as well as skipping meals, a behavior associated with numerous poor health outcomes. WBT was not associated with AL nor metabolic biomarkers. Longitudinal research will elucidate timing of onset of physiologic dysregulation stemming from WBT. Results suggest WBT does not appear to provide a health benefit. Instead, it is linked to physiological and behavioral responses that may contribute to comorbidities generally associated with high BMI.

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对肥胖感到羞耻并不能促进健康：在美国年轻人中，因为体重上的取笑而试图减肥与血压升高、炎症和不吃饭有关

一些人认为肥胖羞耻感通过激励减肥努力来改善健康；然而，肥胖耻辱感与成人心血管健康恶化、炎症和更高的适应负荷（AL）有关。这可能是由对肥胖耻辱的生理和行为反应驱动的。关于体重为基础的戏弄（WBT）与AL、心脏代谢健康和青少年炎症之间的关系，我们所知甚少。我们评估了WBT作为减肥动机、减肥策略和生物标志物在尝试减肥的年轻人中的作用。方法数据来自国家健康与营养调查（2005-2012），包括957名8-15岁美国青少年尝试减肥的动机和协变量。我们比较了因WBT而尝试和未尝试减肥的美国年轻人之间的减肥策略、AL和心脏代谢/免疫功能指标。结果以饮食为动力的受试者不吃饭的可能性是其他激励因素的两倍（OR = 2.01, p = 0.01），舒张压（β = 2.67, p = 0.04）和c反应蛋白（β = 1.46, p = 0.01）均高于其他激励因素。两组间AL差异无统计学意义（β = 0.12; p = 0.06）。结论：WBT的动机与舒张压和c反应蛋白升高以及不吃饭有关，这种行为与许多不良健康结果有关。WBT与AL和代谢生物标志物无关。纵向研究将阐明由腰痛引起的生理失调的发病时间。结果表明，WBT似乎没有提供健康益处。相反，它与生理和行为反应有关，这些反应可能导致通常与高BMI相关的合并症。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Social Science & Medicine PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH-

CiteScore

9.10

自引率

5.60%

发文量

762

审稿时长

38 days

期刊介绍： Social Science & Medicine provides an international and interdisciplinary forum for the dissemination of social science research on health. We publish original research articles (both empirical and theoretical), reviews, position papers and commentaries on health issues, to inform current research, policy and practice in all areas of common interest to social scientists, health practitioners, and policy makers. The journal publishes material relevant to any aspect of health from a wide range of social science disciplines (anthropology, economics, epidemiology, geography, policy, psychology, and sociology), and material relevant to the social sciences from any of the professions concerned with physical and mental health, health care, clinical practice, and health policy and organization. We encourage material which is of general interest to an international readership.