Slender people consider people with obesity 'less evolved' and 'less human' than others, a new survey suggests.
Public health officials believe that discrimination against people who are overweight is partly for blame for our dismal progress against the obesity epidemic.
Despite the fact that one in three Americans and one in four Brits are now obese - a condition we now know is partially genetically driven - these people are still pervasively blamed for their own condition.
And, according to the authors of the new study, from the University of Liverpool, this stigma has been shown in prior studies to actually stand in the way of people with obesity's efforts to make healthy lifestyle changes.
In the film I Feel Pretty, Amy Schumer (left) plays on stigma around body weight. Her character sees herself as beautiful, in spite of not having a body like her fitness instructor - who is skeptical of Schumer's confidence. A new study found that slim people tend to see overweight people as 'less human' than others
There's no denying that obesity is a health epidemic.
Obesity rates have tripled worldwide since 1975, according to the World Health Organization.
And it's become clear that obesity not only raises risks for but causes some cancers, heart disease and type two diabetes.
For those who are overweight or obese, conflict and judgement only serve to facilitate unhealthy habits like over-eating, rather than encouraging people to stick to healthy diets and exercise.
But stigma remains one of the most considerable barriers to better health outcomes for overweight and obese people.
In particular, the view of others as less 'human' or less 'evolved' has been shown to fuel conflict through support of divisive policies in the setting of race-relations.
The University of Liverpool study authors tested both how slimmer people view their overweight peers and the likelihood that these people might support policies that are detrimental to overweight and obese people.
In surveys distributed to 1,500 people divided across the US, UK and India, they asked participants to rate how evolved various groups of
