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Dr Rebecca Puhl says obesity is
more of a global trend |
Bias against people who are overweight or obese in the US has skyrocketed, increasing 66 per cent over the last decade.
Health experts and advocates are concerned that the stigmatisation of obese persons may be the last form of acceptable discrimination. And the trend has severe consequences.
Beginning in early childhood, stigmatisation based on weight may lead to suicidal thoughts, depression and binge eating.
Obese girls are denied college entry at a greater rate and their parents spend less money on their education.
Recent studies have shown that parents, family, teachers and doctors are some of the greatest offenders when it comes to this issue.
On Monday's Riz Khan, Dr Rebecca Puhl of Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity joins the programme to discuss the stigma of obesity.
She argues that what may seem like a strictly American phenomenon is really part of a more global trend requiring national policy solutions.
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