Anti-fat attitudes of Nutrition undergraduates in Brazil toward individuals with obesity

Abstract

Obesity-related prejudice and discrimination may have a source in health professionals and students. The objective was to assess anti-fat attitudes among Brazilian nutrition undergraduates who reported demographic data, weight, height and responded the Antifat Attitudes Test (AFAT) and the Brazilian Silhouette Scales to assess body image satisfaction and perception. Total and subscales of AFAT scores were compared among categories using the Mann-Whitney U test. Associations of participants’ characteristics with the AFAT were analyzed using multiple linear regression. Total AFAT score was positively associated with male sex (ß: .13; p < .001), age (ß: .06; p < .001), educational institution outside capital (ß: .03; p < .05), private institutions (ß: .08; p < .001); and negatively associated with income (ß: -.05; p = .006), participants who perceived themselves with increased BMI (ß: -.15; p < .001) and those at the third year of course (ß: -.05; p = .041). Subscales scores were positively associated with male sex and age; and negatively associated with those who perceived themselves heavier. They have anti-fat attitudes especially if they were man, older, from private institutions, are at the beginning of the course, and have lower household income - and less weight bias if they perceived with increased BMI.

Explicit and implicit weight bias among health care students: a cross-sectional study of 39 Australian universities

“…Interestingly, Alvarenga and colleagues found that Brazilian undergraduate nutrition students who attended universities outside of the Brazilian capital or a private university exhibited more anti-fat attitudes (using a different measure) including the belief that people living with obesity were able to control their weight. 84 Our findings together with that of Alvarenga et al. may indicate that geographical differences in the display of weight bias exists, and more research is needed to explore why such differences occur.…”

“…may indicate that geographical differences in the display of weight bias exists, and more research is needed to explore why such differences occur. 84 Future studies may investigate potential differences between urban, rural, and remote regions within states and territories, rather than between them.…”

Estratégia nutricional para o emagrecimento pós-parto

“…O peso no final da gravidez, envolve, feto, placenta, líquido amniótico, aumento de tecidos e fluídos corporais, e nas semanas depois do parto, o volume plasmático volta ao normal, devido a excreção do líquido extracelular e extravascular que estava aumentado (Moreira et al, 2019;Alvarenga et al, 2022). Tradicionalmente, o ganho de peso gestacional adequado era entre 9 e 13 kg, independentemente das características da mulher (Ramón-Arbués et al, 2017).…”