“Obese people feel 'a culture of blame' against them, which they say has been made worse by media reports about the health risks of obesity, a new study from Australia found. The results were presented at The Endocrine Society's 90th Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Researchers at Monash University in Melbourne conducted one-hour personal interviews with 76 obese individuals (62 females, 14 males), ranging in age from 16 to 72 years. The aim of the study was to better address issues of concern to obese people, in an attempt to improve interventions for the increasing epidemic of obesity, said the lead author, Paul Komesaroff, MD, PhD, director of the university's Centre for Ethics in Medicine and Society. The authors found that the messages from media and health care professionals to engage in healthy behaviors, such as physical activity and eating healthier, may actually be doing more harm than good, Komesaroff said. ‘Obese people frequently feel overwhelmed and disheartened by the publicity about their condition,’ he said. ‘They often feel disrespected and not understood by medical practitioners. Our participants express the view very forcefully that they feel victimized by current social attitudes about obesity. To be told that, in addition to the problems that they recognize only too well, they are now regarded as 'sick' is unlikely to assist them to find a solution.’”
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/111754.php
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