FAT PHOBIA IN MEXICAN NUTRITION STUDENTS.

Abstract

Nutritionists play a major role in the prevention and treatment of obesity. Currently, fat phobia among nutrition students and health workers is resulting in health and social consequences. The aim of this study was to assess the fat phobia among nutrition college students of two schools from different regions in Mexico. Six hundred and thirty 18 to 25 yo nutrition students participated in the study. Fat phobia was assessed using the F-scale, containing 14 pairs of adjectives that described people with obesity. Participants achieved a mean F-scale score of 3.45, which could be considered a moderate amount of fat phobia. Only twelve per cent showed neutral or positive attitudes towards obesity (≤ 2.5), while negative attitude (≥ 2.5) was observed among 88% of all students showing a high prevalence of fat phobia towards obesity.