PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Sense of smell may reveal weight bias

Prejudice against overweight people is likely more pervasive than previously thought, say UCLA researchers

2015-03-19
(Press-News.org) Could our reaction to an image of an overweight or obese person affect how we perceive odor? A trio of researchers, including two from UCLA, says yes.

The researchers discovered that visual cues associated with overweight or obese people can influence one's sense of smell, and that the perceiver's body mass index matters, too. Participants with higher BMI tended to be more critical of heavier people, with higher-BMI participants giving scents a lower rating when scent samples were matched with an obese or overweight individual.

The findings, published online in the International Journal of Obesity and scheduled to be presented today at the annual conference of the American Psychosomatic Society, suggest that the extent of negative bias toward overweight and obese people may be greater than previously believed.

"You wouldn't think that not liking someone's weight could then be seen in a totally different sensory modality, which makes us think, 'How else is weight stigma affecting our lives that we don't even know about?'" said A. Janet Tomiyama, a UCLA assistant professor of psychology. Tomiyama conducted the research with Angela Incollingo Rodriguez, a UCLA doctoral student in psychology, and Andrew Ward, a professor of psychology at Swarthmore College.

"This is the first step in proving that the consequences of weight stigma could be very widespread in ways that we don't even know," Tomiyama said.

Incollingo Rodriguez, the report's lead author, said while some people are overtly biased, others are more subtle about it and may not even be aware that they harbor negative feelings toward heavy people.

"There are no checks and balances on weight stigma in the way you would see with racism, sexism or homophobia," Tomiyama said.

In two related studies, the researchers showed subjects one of two sets of images. Both sets contained photographs of different people -- half who were visibly overweight or obese, and half who were normal weight or thin -- along with a series of "distractor" objects.

With each image they viewed, participants were asked to smell a container of lotion tinted with a different food coloring. Although all of the "scent samples" were actually fragrance free, the researchers wanted to test whether participants would perceive them to have different smells -- and whether their reactions could be associated with the images they were viewing at the same time.

As each image appeared, the experimenter placed the scent sample under the participant's nose. Participants were instructed to rate each scent of 1 to 11. The more positive the rating, the more positive the reported smell.

The researchers found that when overweight or obese people were on the screen, participants gave worse ratings to the scent samples. Images of average-sized or thin people tended to trigger higher ratings.

The correlation between visual stimuli and sense of smell is well-established: Previous research has connected the perception of foul odors to feelings of disgust.

"Right now, we only have a couple of ways to measure implicit attitudes, such as an implicit-association test measure," Incollingo Rodriguez said. "We wanted to see if looking at something you find unappealing or unpleasant could influence how you evaluate a smell that has nothing to do with weight. This shows that something is happening implicitly, and we may have tapped into a new methodology for assessing people."

She said weight bias can affect people's everyday lives in many different ways, including how they are treated in social situations, the quality of medical care they receive, and hiring and promotion decisions.

"It also undermines people's motivation to diet and exercise," Incollingo Rodriguez said. "If anything, stigma is a barrier to these lifestyle changes that people commonly use to lose weight."

Weight bias can also affect people's health, including by increasing their cortisol levels and by causing them to eat more. In 2014, a study by Tomiyama in the journal JAMA Pediatrics showed that simply being called "fat" at age 10 increased a girl's chances of becoming overweight by the time she turned 19.

"By being aware of our deep-seated attitudes regarding weight, we can begin to change our behavior," Incollingo Rodriguez said.

INFORMATION:



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Stem cells help researchers peg rabies resistance

2015-03-19
COLLEGE STATION -- Researchers at Texas A&M AgriLife Research have developed a new technology to determine sensitivity or resistance to rabies virus. "We were able to create a novel platform such that we could look at how pathogens, such as bacteria or virus or even drugs or radiation, interact with specific human genes," said lead researcher Dr. Deeann Wallis, AgriLife Research assistant professor of biochemistry and biophysics. "It allows us a new way to profile the genes involved in sensitivity or resistance to certain agents." The rabies work is being reported in ...

The cost of dominance

The cost of dominance
2015-03-19
SAVANNAH, Ga., March 19, 2015 - Bad news for relentless power-seekers the likes of Frank Underwood on House of Cards: Climbing the ladder of social status through aggressive, competitive striving might shorten your life as a result of increased vulnerability to cardiovascular disease. That's according to new research by psychologist Timothy W. Smith and colleagues at the University of Utah. And good news for successful types who are friendlier: Attaining higher social status as the result of prestige and freely given respect may have protective effects, the researchers ...

New research investigates potential probiotic benefits of a pear-enriched diet

2015-03-19
PORTLAND, Ore. - March 19, 2015 - A new in vitro (test tube) study, "Dietary functional benefits of Bartlett and Starkrimson pears for potential management of hyperglycemia, hypertension and ulcer bacteria Helicobacter pylori while supporting beneficial probiotic bacterial response," was published in the March issue of Food Research International.1 In a laboratory in vitro setting, Kalidas Shetty, PhD, currently a professor of plant science at North Dakota State University, and the research's lead author, Dr. Dipayan Sarkar, studied the compounds found in two pear varieties, ...

Researchers in Berlin tweak the immune system to target cells bearing tumor antigens

2015-03-19
Researchers at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Berlin-Buch, have succeeded in generating cells of the immune system to specifically target and destroy cancer cells. The research findings of Matthias Obenaus, Professor Thomas Blankenstein (MDC and Charité), Dr. Matthias Leisegang (MDC) and Professor Wolfgang Uckert (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and MDC) as well as Professor Dolores Schendel (Medigene AG, Planegg/Martinsried) have now been published in Nature Biotechnology ...

Spinal cord neurons that control pain and itch

2015-03-19
Sensing pain is extremely unpleasant and sometimes hard to bear - and pain can even become chronic. The perception of pain varies a lot depending on the context in which it is experienced. 50 years ago, neurobiologist Patrick Wall and psychologist Ronald Melzack formulated the so-called "Gate Control Theory" of pain. The two researchers proposed that inhibitory nerve cells in the spinal cord determine whether a pain impulse coming from the periphery, such as the foot, is relayed to the brain or not. A team headed by Hanns Ulrich Zeilhofer from the Institute of Pharmacology ...

MDC researchers uncover regulatory network in the kidney

2015-03-19
The kidney carries out vital functions by continuously filtering the blood and excreting waste products into the urine. This is achieved by a complex system of tubules which transports the urine and regulates its composition. PhD student Annekatrin Aue, Dr. Christian Hinze and Professor Kai Schmidt-Ott of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) have now discovered how parts of these kidney tubules establish an inner space (lumen) and form a tight barrier against adjacent structures. The epithelial cells which line the tubules coordinate these processes ...

Quantum computing: 1 step closer with defect-free logic gate

2015-03-19
What does hair styling have in common with quantum computing? The braiding pattern has inspired scientists as a potential new approach to quantum calculation. The idea is to rely on a network of intersecting chains, or nanowires, containing two-dimensional quasi-particles. The way these quasi-particles evolve in space time produces a braid-like pattern. These braids could then be used as the logic gate that provides the logical function required for calculations in computers. Due to their tight assembly, such braids are much more difficult to destabilise and less error-prone. ...

Crocodile ancestor was top predator before dinosaurs roamed North America

Crocodile ancestor was top predator before dinosaurs roamed North America
2015-03-19
A newly discovered crocodilian ancestor may have filled one of North America's top predator roles before dinosaurs arrived on the continent. Carnufex carolinensis, or the "Carolina Butcher," was a 9-foot long, land-dwelling crocodylomorph that walked on its hind legs and likely preyed upon smaller inhabitants of North Carolina ecosystems such as armored reptiles and early mammal relatives. Paleontologists from North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences recovered parts of Carnufex's skull, spine and upper forelimb from the Pekin ...

Lack of knowledge about new foreign markets hampers international success

2015-03-19
"Despite all the talk about globalisation and the trend towards the expansion of the international trade space, the world is still far from frictionless or flat. There are still large national differences between countries. And these differences can greatly influence the companies' earning potential when they seek to expand." So says Associate Professor Ingo Kleindienst from the School of Business and Social Sciences at Aarhus University. He has recently concluded a major study of 91 German-owned multinational companies and their ability to make money in foreign markets. ...

Excessive vitamin intake in pregnant rats impacts food choices in offspring

2015-03-19
This news release is available in French. A research group at the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine has been using a rat model to see how maternal intake of above-requirement vitamins (A, D, E, and K) impact offspring's brain development and behaviour. Some of their findings were published today in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. Much research on vitamins focuses on prevention of deficiencies and the toxicity of very high intakes. However, little has been done on the effect of intakes above ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

New jab protects babies from serious lung infection, study shows

July Tip Sheet from Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center

Current application status and innovative development of surgical robot

Counterfeited in China: New book assesses state of industry and its future

Machine learning reveals historical seismic events in the Yellowstone caldera

First analyses of Myanmar earthquake conclude fault ruptured at supershear velocity

Curved fault slip captured on CCTV during Myanmar earthquake

Collaboration rewarded for work to further deployment of batteries in emerging economies

Heart-healthy habits also prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s, COPD, other diseases, Emory study finds

Scientists will use a $1M grant to build a support system addressing sea level rise and flooding in South Florida

New research examines how pH impacts the immune system

Inhaled agricultural dust disrupts gut health

New study reveals hidden regulatory roles of “junk” DNA

Taking the sting out of ulcerative colitis

Deep life’s survival secret: Crustal faulting generates key energy sources, study shows

Idaho National Laboratory to lead advancements in US semiconductor manufacturing

AI-assisted sorting, other new technologies could improve plastic recycling

More than just larks and owls!

Call for nominations: 2026 Dan David Prize

New tool gives anyone the ability to train a robot

Coexistence of APC and KRAS mutations in familial adenomatous polyposis and endometrial cancer: A mini-review with case-based perspective

First global-to-local study reveals stark health inequalities from COVID-19 in 2020–2021

rcssci: Simplifying complex data relationships with enhanced visual clarity

Why some ecosystems collapse suddenly—and others don’t

One-third of U.S. public schools screen students for mental health issues

GLP-1 RA use and survival among older adults with cancer and type 2 diabetes

Trends in physician exit from fee-for-service Medicare

Systematic investigation of tumor microenvironment and antitumor immunity with IOBR

Common feature between forest fires and neural networks reveals the universal framework underneath

New R package revolutionizes gene set enrichment analysis visualization for biomedical research

[Press-News.org] Sense of smell may reveal weight bias
Prejudice against overweight people is likely more pervasive than previously thought, say UCLA researchers