Describing obesity as a disease makes people eat more, new research suggests.
The label also encourages unhealthy behaviour among people who are severely overweight, the study revealed.
The researchers believe this could be because labelling obesity as a disease makes people think it is unchangeable and that attempts at weight loss are likely to be fruitless.
Researchers at the University of Richmond and the University of Minnesota say obese people who are told their condition is a disease place less importance on dieting and are less concerned about their weight.
As a result, they also tend to eat more unhealthily.
The American Medical Association defined obesity as a disease in June 2013 and psychologists Crystal Hoyt and Jeni Burnette wanted to establish what effect this has had.
‘Considering that obesity is a crucial public health issue, a more nuanced understanding of the impact of an “obesity is a disease” message has significant implications for patient-level and policy-level outcomes,’ said Dr Hoyt.
‘Experts have been debating the merits of, and problems with, the AMA policy — we wanted to contribute to the conversation by bringing data rather than speculation and by focusing on the psychological repercussions.’
Dr Hoyt and her colleagues recruited more than 700 participants to take part in an online survey across three different studies.
The participants read an article related to health and weight and then answered various questions.
mportantly, some participants read an article that described obesity as a disease, some read a standard public health message about weight, and others read an article specifically stating that obesity is not a disease.
Height and weight data were used to calculate the participants’ body mass index and to classify participants as ‘average weight’ or ‘obese’, in line with World Health Organisation guidelines.
The results showed that the particular message obese participants read had a clear impact on their attitudes toward health, diet, and weight.
Specifically, obese participants who read the ‘obesity is a disease’ article placed less importance on dieting and reported less concern about weight relative to obese participants who read the other two articles.
They also chose higher-calorie options when asked to pick a sandwich from a menu.
Interestingly, these participants reported greater body satisfaction, which, in turn, also predicted higher-calorie food choices.
‘Together, these findings suggest that the messages individuals hear about the nature of obesity have self-regulatory consequences,’ said Dr Hoyt.
Despite these findings, the researchers also accept that labelling obesity as a disease can have benefits.
They say it can reduce stigma which might help obese people engage with, and attempt to tackle, the problem.