Well Fed
Inviting Consumers To Downsize Fast-Food Portions Significantly Reduces Calorie Consumption
Janet Schwartz et al.
Health Affairs, February 2012, Pages 399-407
Abstract:
Policies that mandate calorie labeling in fast-food and chain restaurants have had little or no observable impact on calorie consumption to date. In three field experiments, we tested an alternative approach: activating consumers' self-control by having servers ask customers if they wanted to downsize portions of three starchy side dishes at a Chinese fast-food restaurant. We consistently found that 14-33 percent of customers accepted the downsizing offer, and they did so whether or not they were given a nominal twenty-five-cent discount. Overall, those who accepted smaller portions did not compensate by ordering more calories in their entrées, and the total calories served to them were, on average, reduced by more than 200. We also found that accepting the downsizing offer did not change the amount of uneaten food left at the end of the meal, so the calorie savings during purchasing translated into calorie savings during consumption. Labeling the calorie content of food during one of the experiments had no measurable impact on ordering behavior. If anything, the downsizing offer was less effective in changing customers' ordering patterns with the calorie labeling present. These findings highlight the potential importance of portion-control interventions that specifically activate consumers' self-control.
----------------------
How Have Agricultural Policies Influenced Caloric Consumption in the United States?
Bradley Rickard, Abigail Okrent & Julian Alston
Health Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Many commentators have speculated that agricultural policies have contributed to increased obesity rates in the United States, yet such claims are often made without any analysis of the complex links between real-world farm commodity support programs, prices and consumption of foods, and caloric intake. This article carefully studies the effects of US agricultural policies on prices and quantities of 10 agricultural commodities and nine food categories in the United States over time. Using a detailed multimarket model, we simulate the counterfactual removal of measures of support applied to US agricultural commodities in 1992, 1997, and 2002 and quantify the effects on US food consumption and caloric intake. To parameterize the simulations, we calculate three alternative measures of consumer support (the implicit consumer subsidy from policies that support producers) for the 10 agricultural commodities using information about government expenditures on agricultural commodities from various sources. Our results indicate that - holding all other policies constant - removing US subsidies on grains and oilseeds in the three periods would have caused caloric consumption to decrease minimally whereas removal of all US agricultural policies (including barriers against imports of sugar and dairy products) would have caused total caloric intake to increase. Our results also indicate that the influence of agricultural policies on caloric intake has diminished over time.
----------------------
Red potato chips: Segmentation cues can substantially decrease food intake
Andrew Geier, Brian Wansink & Paul Rozin
Health Psychology, forthcoming
Objective: To discover a scalable method of food-packaging presentation, which can help reduce per occasion food consumption by making portions sizes more salient and segmented.
Methods: Two studies of American undergraduates who ate from tubes of potato chips while watching a movie. In each study, participants ate chips that were either identical (the control group) or which had colored chips inserted at regular intervals (the treatment groups). One treatment group had a distinctively different (reddish) chip present at every 7th (Study 1) or 5th (Study 2) chip, and the 2nd treatment group had one present every 14th (Study 1) or 10th (Study 2) chip. Measures were the number of chips consumed and (in Study 1) the participants estimates of how many they believed they consumed.
Results: In both studies, chip consumption was reduced by more than 50%, averaging across the 2 segmentation intervals, with no significant difference between the 2 intervals. Estimates of amount consumed were much more accurate when there was segmentation.
Conclusion: Segmenting a package effectively reduced consumption in the settings we have explored. Segmentation cues may operate by any or all of 3 mechanisms: (a) they call attention to and encourage better monitoring of eating, (b) they suggest smaller consumption (portion size) norms, or (c) they break automated eating sequences by introducing a pause. There is some evidence from the 1st study that provides evidence for the 1st, monitoring account.
----------------------
The relationship between fast food and obesity
Michael Marlow & Alden Shiers
Applied Economics Letters, forthcoming
Abstract:
Public debate regarding the role of government in lowering obesity often focuses on the fact that rising obesity prevalence is evident in all states. This article focuses on the hypothesized link between obesity and fast food employment by examining data on all states over 2001-2009 and controlling for other factors that may influence obesity prevalence. Our examination indicates no support for the view that fast food is a significant causal factor behind the substantial weight gain exhibited by the US population.
----------------------
Daniel Hruschka
American Journal of Human Biology, forthcoming
Abstract:
In low income countries worldwide, rising standards of living have spurred an unprecedented rise in obesity. However, in numerous wealthy countries the trend frequently reverses with poorer and less educated women more likely to be overweight than their wealthier compatriots. One prominent explanation for this reverse gradient is that economic deprivation leads to food choices which paradoxically increase energy intake. If true, this would challenge current evolutionary accounts for the modern obesity epidemic and have serious implications for how policy makers tackle increasing obesity in the US and worldwide. In this article, we critically review the hypothesis that deprivation leads people to choose cheaper foods which in turn foster overconsumption of energy. Though the hypothesis is consistent with numerous cross-sectional studies, available longitudinal studies from high-, middle-, and low-income countries show the reverse - that when populations experience resource declines, they experience either declines in BMI or decelerations in BMI growth. Most notably, the recent recession in the US coincides with a clear deceleration in women's obesity across income groups. We conclude by briefly reviewing other plausible explanations for the reverse gradient among women in developing countries. Finally, we discuss how theoretical perspectives and comparative, historical approaches from human biology are useful tools for examining the current wealth of hypotheses about obesity in population health.
----------------------
The Association of Obesity with the Likelihood of Arrest for Young Adults
David Kalist & Freddy Siahaan
Economics & Human Biology, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper examines whether obesity is associated with the likelihood of arrest. We hypothesize that obese individuals are less likely to commit crime and be arrested because their body weights may prevent them from successfully engaging in certain criminal activities, particularly those that are physically intensive. To test this hypothesis, we use the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 and panel data techniques and find that obesity is negatively related to arrest. In one specification, for example, we found that the odds of an obese man being arrested are 64 percent of those of a healthy weight man. The social costs of obesity may be overstated if obesity reduces the likelihood of arrest because the obese are less criminally active.
----------------------
Junk Food in Schools and Childhood Obesity
Ashlesha Datar & Nancy Nicosia
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, forthcoming
Abstract:
Despite limited empirical evidence, there is growing concern that junk food availability in schools has contributed to the childhood obesity epidemic. In this paper, we estimate the effects of junk food availability on body mass index (BMI), obesity, and related outcomes among a national sample of fifth graders. Unlike previous studies, we address the endogeneity of the school food environment by controlling for children's BMI at school entry and estimating instrumental variables regressions that leverage variation in the school's grade span. Our main finding is that junk food availability does not significantly increase BMI or obesity among this fifth-grade cohort despite the increased likelihood of in-school junk food purchases. The results are robust to alternate measures of junk food availability including school administrator reports of sales during school hours, school administrator reports of competitive food outlets, and children's reports of junk food availability. Moreover, the absence of any effects on overall food consumption and physical activity further support the null findings for BMI and obesity.
----------------------
Jennifer Ailshire & James House
Social Forces, December 2011, Pages 397-423
Abstract:
The implications of recent weight gain trends for widening social disparities in body weight in the United States are unclear. Using an intersectional approach to studying inequality, and the longitudinal and nationally representative American's Changing Lives study (1986-2001/2002), we examine social disparities in body mass index trajectories during a time of rapid weight gain in the United States. Results reveal complex interactive effects of gender, race, socioeconomic position and age, and provide evidence for increasing social disparities, particularly among younger adults. Most notably, among individuals who aged from 25-39 to 45-54 during the study interval, low-educated and low-income black women experienced the greatest increase in BMI, while high-educated and high-income white men experienced the least BMI growth. These new findings highlight the importance of investigating changing disparities in weight intersectionally, using multiple dimensions of inequality as well as age, and also presage increasing BMI disparities in the U.S. adult population.
----------------------
Food deprivation sensitizes pain perception
Olga Pollatos et al.
Journal of Psychophysiology, Winter 2012, Pages 1-9
Abstract:
While food deprivation has known effects on sympathovagal balance, little is known about hunger's influence on the perception of pain. Since autonomic activities influence many cognitive and emotional processes, this suggests that food deprivation should interact with the perception of pain. This study analyzed the possible effects of short-term food deprivation on pain sensitivity in healthy female participants. This study was comprised of 32 healthy female participants who underwent a 48-hr inpatient hospital investigation. Prior to testing, heart rate and heart rate variability were assessed. After a standardized breakfast, day 1 measurements were taken. Food intake was then not allowed again until the following evening for 22 participants (experimental group), while 12 participants were served standard meals (control group). Pain threshold and tolerance were assessed at 10:00 a.m. on both days using a pressure algometer. Additionally pain experience was examined. Food deprivation significantly reduced pain thresholds and tolerance scores in the experimental group. Additionally, the sympathovagal balance changed, characterized by a decrease in parasympathetic activation. Higher vagal withdrawal after food deprivation was associated with higher pain sensitivity in the experimental group. Furthermore, perceived unpleasantness and pain intensity increased for threshold and tolerance stimuli in the experimental group. We conclude that short-term food deprivation sensitized pain perception in healthy females. An imbalance in sympathovagal activation evoked by food deprivation accounted for this effect. Our results might be a pathogenic mechanism for the development of emotional difficulties associated with disturbed eating behavior.
----------------------
Food Prices and Blood Cholesterol
Ilya Rahkovsky & Christian Gregory
Economics & Human Biology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) cost Americans billions of dollars per year. High cholesterol levels, which are closely related to dietary habits, are a major contributor to CVD. In this article, we study whether changes in food prices are related to cholesterol levels and whether taxes or subsidies on particular foods would be effective in lowering cholesterol levels and, consequently, CVD costs. We find that prices of vegetables, processed foods, and whole milk and whole grains are significantly associated with blood cholesterol levels. Having analyzed the costs and benefits of government interventions, we find that a subsidy of vegetables and whole grains would be an efficient way to reduce CVD expenditures.
----------------------
Body image concerns and reduced breastfeeding duration in primiparous overweight and obese women
Laura Hauff & Ellen Demerath
American Journal of Human Biology, forthcoming
Objectives: To test differences in breastfeeding duration by prepregnant maternal weight status, and determine whether body image concerns mediate any differences.
Methods: A prospective longitudinal cohort of primiparous women was followed from pregnancy to, at minimum, 6 months postpartum. Questionnaire responses on body concerns were obtained during pregnancy and at 4 months postpartum. Kaplan-Meier curves compared breastfeeding duration in overweight/obese and normal weight groups. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to determine whether body image variables mediated the relationship between maternal weight and duration.
Results: Although intended duration was similar between groups, overweight/obese women had a shorter median duration of any breastfeeding (38.6 weeks) compared to normal weight women (48.9 weeks) (P < 0.01) and they experienced higher risk of breastfeeding cessation over the entire first year postpartum [hazard risk (HR) = 1.43; confidence interval (CI) = 1.02-2.01; P < 0.05]. Overweight/obese women reported lack of body comfort/confidence postpartum more frequently than normal BMI women (P < 0.01). Lack of body comfort/confidence postpartum was negatively associated with duration after adjusting for maternal BMI (P = 0.01). Thus, the effect of BMI on duration was reduced by this variable (HR = 1.31; CI = 0.93, 1.86; P = 0.13), suggesting mediation.
Conclusions: Women with high prepregnant BMI have reduced lactation duration that is mediated by lack of comfort/confidence with one's body. Further research into the interplay between body image, weight status, and breastfeeding outcomes may point to behavioral targets amenable to intervention and modification that may in turn improve breastfeeding outcomes for overweight/obese women and their infants.
----------------------
Preschool children's perceptions of overweight peers
Wei Su & Di Santo Aurelia
Journal of Early Childhood Research, February 2012, Pages 19-31
Abstract:
The aim of the study was to determine if preschool children perceive overweight children to have more negative characteristics than non-overweight children. Children from 32 to 70 months old (N = 42) listened to four stories about an interaction between two children, in which one child demonstrated socially unacceptable behaviour and one child demonstrated pro-social behaviour. Stories were presented along with two target figures (overweight, non-overweight). Results showed that children perceived overweight target figures as ‘mean' more often than ‘nice'. By understanding children's negative perceptions towards overweight peers, the findings can inform the development of programs to prevent or decrease body stigmatization in order to create inclusive learning and social environments where all children are accepted, included, and gain a sense of belonging regardless of their body shape or size.
----------------------
Abigail Okrent & Julian Alston
American Journal of Agricultural Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Many commentators claim that farm subsidies have contributed significantly to the "obesity epidemic" by making fattening foods relatively cheap and abundant and, symmetrically, that taxing "unhealthy" commodities or subsidizing "healthy" commodities would contribute to reducing obesity rates. In this article we use an equilibrium displacement model to estimate and compare the economic welfare effects from a range of hypothetical farm commodity and retail food policies as alternative mechanisms for encouraging consumption of healthy food or discouraging consumption of unhealthy food, or both. We find that, compared with retail taxes on fat, sugar, or all food, or subsidies on fruits and vegetables at the farm or retail levels, a tax on calories would be the most efficient obesity policy. A tax on calories would have the lowest deadweight loss per pound of fat reduction in average adult weight, and would yield a net social gain once the impact on public health care expenditures is considered.
----------------------
Sugar-Sweetened and Diet Beverages in Relation to Visceral Adipose Tissue
Andrew Odegaard et al.
Obesity, March 2012, Pages 689-691
Abstract:
Frequent sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake has been consistently associated with increased adiposity and cardio-metabolic risk, whereas the association with diet beverages is more mixed. We examined how these beverages associate with regional abdominal adiposity measures, specifically visceral adipose tissue (VAT). In a cross-sectional analysis of 791 non-Hispanic white men and women aged 18-70 we examined how beverage consumption habits obtained from a food frequency questionnaire associate with overall and abdominal adiposity measures from MRI. With increasing frequency of SSB intake, we observed increases in waist circumference (WC) and the proportion of visceral to subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue (VAT%), with no change in total body fat (TBF%) or BMI. Greater frequency of diet beverage intake was associated with greater WC, BMI, and TBF%, but was not associated with variation in visceral adiposity We conclude that increased frequency of SSB consumption is associated with a more adverse abdominal adipose tissue deposition pattern.
----------------------
Jonathan Wells
American Journal of Human Biology, forthcoming
Objectives: Sexual dimorphism in human stature, physique, and adiposity is well established, but the ecological factors that account for its variability remain unknown. This study aimed to describe population variability in body composition dimorphism, and to test whether annual temperature and proxies for population energy supply accounted for this variability.
Methods: Data on sex-specific anthropometry (weight, stature, triceps, and subscapular skinfolds) and mean annual temperature were collated for 96 nonindustrialized populations. Lean mass and fat mass were calculated. Sexual dimorphism was expressed in sympercents. Sex-averaged skinfolds and stature were used as proxies for short-term and long-term energy supply, respectively.
Results: All outcomes showed significant mean dimorphism except body mass index. The magnitude of dimorphism was not randomly distributed across global regions, being lowest in African and Asian populations and greatest in Arctic populations. There was a negative correlation across populations between lean mass dimorphism and adiposity dimorphism, independent of temperature. With decreasing temperature, dimorphism in both lean mass and adiposity increased. Dimorphism increased in fatter but not taller populations, independently of temperature.
Conclusions: The inverse correlation between lean mass dimorphism and adiposity dimorphism indicates a sex-trade-off between these two tissue accretion strategies. At colder temperatures, females invest disproportionately more in adiposity, and males disproportionately more in lean mass. Dimorphism also increased in proportion to proxies for short-term but not long-term energy availability. These findings suggest that phenotypic plasticity contributes to variability in body composition dimorphism, and that the occupation of dimorphic niches regarding reproductive energetics may be important.
----------------------
Unintended Nutrition Consequences: Firm Responses to the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act
Christine Moorman Rosellina Ferraro & Joel Huber
Marketing Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper investigates how firms responded to standardized nutrition labels on food products required by the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA). Using a longitudinal quasi-experimental design, we test our predictions using two large-scale samples that span 30 product categories. Results indicate that the NLEA reduced brand nutritional quality relative to a control group of products not regulated by the NLEA. At the same time, among regulated products, brand taste increased. Although this reduction in nutrition represents an unintended consequence of regulation, there were a set of category, firm, and brand conditions under which the NLEA produced a positive effect on brand nutritional quality. We find that firms were more likely to improve brand nutrition when firm risk or firm power is low. Greater risk occurs when the firm is introducing a new brand rather than changing an existing brand, and weaker power in a category is reflected by lower market share in a category. Furthermore, firms competing in low-health categories (e.g., potato chips) or small-portion categories (e.g., peanut butter) improved nutrition more than firms competing in high-health categories (e.g., bread) or large-portion categories (e.g., frozen dinners). Recommendations for firm strategy and the design of consumer information policy are examined in light of these surprising firm responses.
----------------------
Sara Bleich, Alan Simon & Lisa Cooper
Obesity, March 2012, Pages 562-570
Abstract:
The objective of this study was to assess the impact of patient-provider race concordance on weight-related counseling among visits by obese patients. We hypothesized that race concordance would be positively associated with weight-related counseling. We used clinical encounter data obtained from the 2005-2007 National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys (NAMCS). The sample size included 2,231 visits of black and white obese individuals (ages 20 and older) to their black and white physicians from the specialties of general/family practice and general internal medicine. Three outcome measures of weight-related counseling were explored: weight reduction, diet/nutrition, and exercise. Logistic regression was used to model the outcome variables of interest. Wald tests were used to statistically compare whether physicians of each race provided counseling at different rates for obese patients of different races. We did not observe a positive association between patient-physician race concordance and weight-related counseling. We found that visits by black obese patients to white doctors had a lower odds of exercise counseling as compared to visits by white obese patients to white doctors (odds ratio (OR) = 0.54; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.31, 0.95), and visits by black obese patients to black physicians had lower odds of receiving weight-reduction counseling than visits among white obese patients seeing black physicians (OR = 0.34; 95% CI: 0.13, 0.90). Black obese patients receive less exercise counseling than white obese patients in visits to white physicians and may be less likely than white obese patients to receive weight-reduction counseling in visits to black physicians.
----------------------
Dollars and pounds: The impact of family income on childhood weight
Y.F. Chia
Applied Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
This article examines the impact of family income on childhood weight status for children in the United States using matched mother-child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY 79). Instrumental variable (IV) models, family Fixed Effects (FE) models and family Fixed Effects IV (FEIV) models are estimated in order to control for causality. The results suggest that although the prevalence of childhood obesity is higher in low-income families in the sample, family income might be acting primarily as a proxy for other unobserved characteristics that determine the child's weight status rather having a major direct causative role in determining the child's weight status.
----------------------
Feeding a Family in a Recession: Food Insecurity Among Minnesota Parents
Meg Bruening et al.
American Journal of Public Health, March 2012, Pages 520-526
Objectives: We assessed current levels of food insecurity among a large, diverse sample of parents and examined associations between food insecurity and parental weight status, eating patterns, and the home food environment.
Methods: Project F-EAT (Families and Eating and Activity Among Teens) examined the home food environments of adolescents. Parents and caregivers (n = 2095) living with adolescents from the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota school districts completed mailed surveys during a 12-month period in 2009-2010. We performed our assessments using multivariate regressions.
Results: Almost 39% of the parents and caregivers experienced household food insecurity, whereas 13% experienced very low food security. Food insecurity was significantly associated with poorer nutrition-related variables such as higher rates of parental overweight and obesity, less healthy foods served at meals, and higher rates of binge eating. Food-insecure parents were 2 to 4 times more likely to report barriers to accessing fruits and vegetables.
Conclusions: Food insecurity was highly prevalent. Environmental interventions are needed to protect vulnerable families against food insecurity and to improve access to affordable, healthy foods.
----------------------
Hanna-Reetta Lajunen et al.
Obesity, March 2012, Pages 583-589
Abstract:
To investigate how parental education modifies genetic and environmental influences on variation in BMI during adolescence, self-reported BMI at 11-12, 14, and 17 years of age was collected from a population sample of 2,432 complete Finnish twin pairs born in 1983-1987. Based on parental report, twins were divided to those with high (both parents high school graduates), mixed level (one parent a graduate, the other not), and limited (neither parent a graduate) parental education. Genetic and environmental influences on variation in BMI in different education classes were modeled using twin analysis. Heritability of BMI among 11-12-year-olds with high parental education was 85-87% whereas it was 61-68% if parental education was limited or mixed level. Common environmental effect, i.e., effect of environmental factors shared by family members, was found (17-22%) if parental education was limited or mixed level but not if it was high. With increasing parental education, common environmental variance in BMI decreased at age 14 among boys (from 22 to 3%) and girls (from 17 to 10%); heritability increased among boys from 63 to 78%, but did not change among girls. The common environmental component disappeared and heritability of BMI was larger at the age of 17 in all parental education classes. To conclude, common environment did not affect variation of adolescent BMI in high-educated families but did so in families with limited parental education. This suggests that intervention and prevention campaigns could effectively target families identified by limited parental education.
----------------------
Candace Currie et al.
Journal of Adolescent Health, forthcoming
Purpose: A unique standardized international data set from adolescent girls in 34 countries in Europe and North America participating in the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study (HBSC) is used to investigate the contribution of body mass index (BMI) at individual and country level to cross-national differences in age at menarche.
Methods: Two independent nationally representative survey data sets from 15-year-olds (n = 27,878, in 34 countries, year = 2005/2006) and 11-year-olds (n = 18,101, in 29 countries, year = 2001/2002) were analyzed. The survey instrument is a self-report questionnaire. Median age at menarche and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Hierarchical models were used to assess the relationship between BMI and age at menarche (months). "Country-level obesity" was measured by prevalence of overweight/obesity (%) in each country.
Results: Country-level median age at menarche ranged between 12 years and 5 months and 13 years and 5 months. Country-level prevalence of overweight among 15-year-old girls ranged from 4% to 28%. Age at menarche was inversely associated with individual BMI (unstandardized regression coefficient beta = -1.01; 95% CI, -1.09 to -.94) and country-level aggregate overweight at age 11 (unstandardized regression coefficient beta = -.25; 95% CI, -.43 to -.08). Individual- and country-level measures of BMI account for 40% of the country-level variance in age at menarche.
Conclusions: The findings add to the evidence that obesity in childhood is a risk factor for early puberty in girls and accounts for much of the cross-national variation in age at menarche. Future HBSC surveys can track this relationship in the wake of the obesity "epidemic."
----------------------
Genome-Wide Association of BMI in African Americans
Maggie Ng et al.
Obesity, March 2012, Pages 622-627
Abstract:
Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified multiple novel loci associated with obesity in Europeans but results in other ethnicities are less convincing. Here, we report a two-stage GWAS of BMI in African Americans. The GWAS was performed using the Affymetrix 6.0 platform in 816 nondiabetic and 899 diabetic nephropathy subjects. 746,626 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were tested for association with BMI after adjustment for age, gender, disease status, and population structure. Sixty high scoring SNPs that showed nominal association in both GWAS cohorts were further replicated in 3,274 additional subjects in four replication cohorts and a meta-analysis was computed. Meta-analysis of 4,989 subjects revealed five SNPs (rs6794092, rs268972, rs2033195, rs815611, and rs6088887) at four loci showing consistent associations in both GWAS (P < 0.0001) and replication cohorts (P < 0.05) with combined P values range from 2.4 × 10-6 to 5 × 10-5. These loci are located near PP13439-TMEM212, CDH12, MFAP3-GALNT10, and FER1L4 and had effect sizes between 0.091 and 0.167 s.d. unit (or 0.67-1.24 kg/m2) of BMI for each copy of the effect allele. Our findings suggest the presence of novel loci potentially associated with adiposity in African Americans. Further replication and meta-analysis in African Americans and other populations will shed light on the role of these loci in different ethnic populations.
----------------------
Ariana Young, Shira Gabriel & Gretchen Sechrist
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Much research demonstrates that exposure to thin media ideals has a negative effect on women's body image. The present research suggests a notable and important exception to this rule. The authors propose the parasocial relationship-moderation hypothesis - that parasocial, or one-sided, relationships (PSRs) moderate the effects of thin media figures on body image. Specifically, the authors propose that having a PSR with a media figure increases the likelihood of assimilating, rather than contrasting, the PSR's body to the self. Study 1 found that women who perceived similarity with a thin model felt better about their bodies than those who did not perceive similarity. Study 2 found that women were more satisfied with their bodies after exposure to a favorite celebrity they perceived as thin than a control celebrity they perceived as thin. Finally, Study 3 suggests that assimilation was the underlying mechanism of increased body satisfaction after exposure to a thin favorite celebrity.
----------------------
Positive media portrayals of obese persons: Impact on attitudes and image preferences
Rebecca Pearl, Rebecca Puhl & Kelly Brownell
Health Psychology, forthcoming
Objective: The purpose of this research was to assess the impact of nonstereotypical, positive media portrayals of obese persons on biased attitudes, as well as propose a change in media practices that could reduce public weight bias and consequent negative health outcomes for those who experience weight stigma.
Method: Two online experiments were conducted in which participants viewed either a stigmatizing or a positive photograph of an obese model. In Experiment 1 (N = 146), participants viewed a photograph of either a Caucasian or African American obese woman; in Experiment 2 (N = 145), participants viewed either a Caucasian male or female obese model. Multiple linear regression models were used to analyze outcomes for social distance attitudes toward the obese models depicted in the images, in addition to other negative attitudes and image preferences.
Results: Participants who viewed the stigmatizing images endorsed stronger social distance attitudes and more negative attitudes toward obese persons than participants who viewed the positive images, and there was a stronger preference for the positive images than the stigmatizing images. These results were consistent regardless of the race or gender of the obese model pictured.
Conclusion: The findings indicate that more positive media portrayals of obese individuals may help reduce weight stigma and its associated negative health outcomes.
----------------------
Fat Chance! Obesity and the Transition from Unemployment to Employment
Marco Caliendo & Wang-Sheng Lee
Economics & Human Biology, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper focuses on estimating the magnitude of any potential weight discrimination by examining whether obese job applicants in Germany get treated or behave differently from non-obese applicants. Based on two waves of rich survey data from the IZA Evaluation dataset, which includes measures that control for education, demographic characteristics, labor market history, psychological factors and health, we estimate differences in job search behavior and labor market outcomes between obese/overweight and normal weight individuals. Unlike other observational studies which are generally based on obese and non-obese individuals who might already be at different points in the job ladder (e.g., household surveys), in our data, individuals are newly unemployed and all start from the same point. The only subgroup we find in our data experiencing any possible form of negative labor market outcomes is obese women. Despite making more job applications and engaging more in job training programs, we find some indications that they experienced worse (or at best similar) employment outcomes than normal weight women. Obese women who found a job also had significantly lower wages than normal weight women.
----------------------
Mode of Consumption Plays a Role in Alleviating Hunger and Thirst
Mieke Martens & Margriet Westerterp-Plantenga
Obesity, March 2012, Pages 517-524
Abstract:
While studying the effect of structure on satiety, effects of mode of consumption, additional water to drink, and thirst have been neglected. The objective was to assess effects of structure, mode of consumption of food, and additional drinking of water on fullness and thirst. In study 1, 20 subjects (BMI 22.5 ± 0.5 kg/m2; age 21.4 ± 3 years) underwent consumption conditions; SEW: solids to eat + 750 ml water to drink; LEW: liquefied soup to eat including 500 ml water + 250 ml water separately to drink; LDW: the same as LEW but served as drinks; SE, LE, and LD: the same as previous but without water to drink. In study 2, a subset of subjects underwent consumption conditions: solid carbohydrate, solid protein, solid fat: the same as SEW, but for each macronutrient separately; liquefied carbohydrate, liquefied protein, liquefied fat: the same as LEW, but for each macronutrient separately. Appetite, insulin concentration, glucose concentration, and ghrelin concentration were measured. Eating, independent of structure, suppressed desire to eat more than drinking (P < 0.01). Drinking water separately vs. water consumption in the food suppressed thirst more (P < 0.001). Regarding protein, satiety was higher in the solid vs. liquefied condition, while blood parameters were not significantly different. Only after drinking a meal most subjects (80%) wanted to consume more of the same meal, in order to alleviate hunger (63%) or quench thirst (37%). We conclude that mode of consumption plays a role in alleviating hunger and thirst. Subjects required further consumption after drinking the meal, motivated by hunger or thirst, showing that drinking a meal causes confusion that may imply a risk of overconsumption.
----------------------
Spillover Effects of the ADA: The Case of Obesity
Inas Rashad Kelly & Jennifer Tennant
Journal of Disability Policy Studies, March 2012, Pages 230-236
Abstract:
The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 has expanded employment opportunities of numerous persons with disabilities, although its effect on employment for disabled individuals has been mixed. With the strong correlation between disability and obesity, the ADA has likely had spillover effects through several court cases related to disability and obesity. The authors create a data set that combines state-level data on cases pertaining to the ADA with an individual-level health data set representative of the U.S. population: the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 1993-2007. Controlling for state-level unemployment rates, the authors find little effect of these state-level disability policies on the probability of employment and the probability of being a student. Further analysis reveals that the occurrence of the court cases increases the probability that obese individuals report having a disability, perhaps paving the path for the creation of an environment in which obese individuals with disabilities are able to collect disability benefits.
----------------------
Explicit versus implicit fat-stigma
Alexandra Brewis & Amber Wutich
American Journal of Human Biology, forthcoming
Objectives: Human biologists are increasingly engaging with current global trends toward obesity. However, little is considered about how variation in cultural views of "fat" might shape the biology of obesity, such as through pathways related to socially induced stress. Recent research indicates elevated levels of explicit fat-stigma in middle income nations, suggesting potentially high levels of psychosocial stress around "being fat." We use the case of Paraguay to test if high levels of explicit prejudice around "being fat" also suggest internalization of those ideas in ways that might predict stress effects.
Methods: Using a sample of women in Paraguay (N = 200), we test if the statement of anti-fat beliefs on standard scales correlates with similarly strong level of cognitive bias against fat based on an implicit association test. We confirm reasonable comparability of the findings to prior published studies by collecting data for U.S. undergraduates (N = 66) using the same set of tools.
Results: Women in Paraguay reveal high levels of explicit anti-fat bias in an interview on a standard (Attitudes to Obese People) scale, suggesting a shared cultural norm of fat-is-bad. However, Paraguayan women display, on average, no anti-fat stigma in cognitive testing.
Conclusion: In contrast to what has been observed in industrialized nations, the high levels of explicit fat-stigma does not necessarily correlate with high levels of implicit fat-stigma. This means that pathways between obesity, psychosocial stress, and health outcomes may be very different across socioecological contexts.