Search for the word “fat” on Twitter and you’ll likely find a torrent of criticisms, insults, and jokes at overweight people’s expense. Now researchers have undertaken such an experiment in a much more systematic way, across a variety of platforms — and what they’ve found may give the public health community a look at the reality of being overweight online.

For a study published in the journal Translational Behavioral Medicine, the researchers Wen-Ying Sylvia Chou, Abby Prestin, and Stephen Kunath analyzed a variety of social-media messages — tweets, Facebook posts, and comments on blogs and forums — that contained words like “obese,” “overweight,” and “fat.” “The most prevalent theme” throughout these messages, they write, “is derogation and stigma against overweight individuals.” They noticed “moral repugnance toward overweight people,” “irritation and anger” directed at them, and, in more extreme cases, harassment. Tweets “where aggressors directly and publicly attack other users with weight-related insults,” they write, “are unfortunately common.”

Quoted:



Eat it up.

CDC data from 2007 to 2010 reports that adult men in the U.S., on average, have a BMI of 28.6. Adult women have an average BMI of 28.7. This BMI indicates the average adult male and female are overweight, but not obese. To be considered obese, your BMI must be 30 or above. A man with a BMI of 28.6 could stand 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weigh 194 pounds. A woman with a BMI of 28.7 could be 5 feet, 5 inches tall with a weight of 172.5 pounds.

Quoted:


I couldn't read one sentence, its Friday.

Quoted:
http://cdn.calisphere.org/affiliates/images/csju/kt7k4023tp/hi-res/SVHO2004-0228.jpg