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Weight Bias May Be Declining

New study offers insight into progress related to attitudes toward weight.

Weight bias and obesity

More and more people share the viewpoint that those with obesity are being blamed for the disease, rather than getting the medical help they may need to manage it, according to researchers from the United States and the United Kingdom. “It’s encouraging to see explicit weight bias trend downward in the U.S.,” said study author Theodore Kyle, RPh, MBA, who serves on the Obesity Action Coalition’s national board. “Unfortunately, we know from other research that implicit, unspoken, and systematic bias that people with obesity face every day is still strong.”

The research was presented at the European and International Congress on Obesity 2020. To learn more, go to bit.ly/3luvXP9.

See also: Weight Bias in the Health and Fitness Industry


Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA

Shirley Archer, JD, MA, is an internationally acknowledged integrative health and mindfulness specialist, best-selling author of 16 fitness and wellness books translated into multiple languages and sold worldwide, award-winning health journalist, contributing editor to Fitness Journal, media spokesperson, and IDEA's 2008 Fitness Instructor of the Year. She's a 25-year industry veteran and former health and fitness educator at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, who has served on multiple industry committees and co-authored trade books and manuals for ACE, ACSM and YMCA of the USA. She has appeared on TV worldwide and was a featured trainer on America's Next Top Model.

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