Study Asks: Is Fat the New Normal?
FoodConsumer.org reports on a new study which poses that very question:
With roughly two-thirds of the American population overweight or obese, have our cultural ideals of what we consider “normal weight” changed?
The study, published in the July issue of Economic Inquiry, looked at economic and social factors affecting obesity rates. One element explored was the impact of societal norms or standards. According to the study’s authors, standards for acceptable body weight relax as the average weight of the population increases; in turn, people’s weights continue to rise in response to the lessening of social standards.
The public responses to the issues raised in this study range from support to outrage. While some have recognized the danger in “normalizing” unhealthy weights, others are angered at the insinuation that people are unable to differentiate between “average” and “healthy.”
This discussion echoes the misunderstanding that surrounded earlier research published in 2000. The latter study, which ran in the journal Obesity Research, focused on body-size acceptance. In the study, subjects were presented with nine line drawings portraying various body shapes that ranged from very thin to obese. Participants were asked to identify those body sizes that “looked okay” as well as the one they “liked best.
In the end, 86 percent of overweight study subjects and 48 percent of obese subjects said their own shape fell within the “acceptable” range (it is important to note that study subjects did not identify overweight and obese figures as healthy or desirable, but as acceptable). Furthermore, 80 percent of overweight subjects and 93 percent of obese subjects identified their actual shape as different from the shape they would most like to have.