摘要：Obesity is a chronic disease characterized by abnormal or excessive fat accumulation to the extent that health is impaired. (1) Obesity has been identified as a public health issue that threatens to significantly impact population health. (1,2) The impact of public health obesity prevention strategies has been evaluated, (3) and criticized, (4) and new models and frameworks continue to be proposed. (5) These activities and commentary are necessary and contribute to the advancement of evidence-informed public health solutions. Public health policies have been criticized for promoting a simplistic narrative that may contribute to weight bias in several countries, including Canada. (6-8) Specifically, the current public health obesity narrative promotes assumptions about personal irresponsibility and lack of willpower among people with obesity. (9) These assumptions contribute to the beliefs that people with obesity and their children lack awareness and knowledge about healthy eating and physical activity and are to blame for the obesity epidemic. (10)
There is extensive research demonstrating the negative effects of weight bias. Weight bias can affect a person's mental health, interpersonal relationships, educational achievements and employment opportunities; it can lead to avoidance of health-promoting behaviours, hinder weight management efforts, and increase overall morbidity and mortality. (11,12) There are several ways in which public health obesity policies may be unintentionally contributing to weight bias. (13) According to attribution theory, the belief that obesity is simply caused by unhealthy choices is associated with weight bias because individuals will attribute unhealthy behaviours to people who have obesity. (10) Similarly, social consensus theory stipulates that individuals look at how others (including policy makers) think about obesity to inform their own beliefs about obesity. (14) Beliefs, values and socio-political ideologies are also closely linked to an individual's views of the controllability of obesity and intolerance towards people with obesity. (15) Critical obesity scholars have also provided theoretical models to explain how the obesity discourse reinforces weight bias and perpetuates obesity stigma. (16) Together, these theories from the field of social-psychology and critical obesity research can inform future interventions to address weight bias.
