Surprise! Fat Doctors Don’t Want to Help Fat Patients Lose Weight

Have you ever seen a dentist with poor oral hygiene? Or maybe a hair stylist with a bad ‘do? What about a fat doctor?

If the latter is true, then maybe you should take a look in the mirror. Recently released stats show if your doctor is overweight, he may be less likely to think you are.

In a study of 500 primary care physicians around the country, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that a doctor’s own size influenced how he or she cared for patients with weight problems. Overweight or obese physicians were less likely to discuss weight loss with heavy patients: only 18% of these doctors discussed losing weight with their patients while 30% of normal weight physicians did.

This study builds upon earlier work that analyzed how doctors’ own smoking habits affect their likelihood to discourage the habit to patients.

The opposite could also be true if your doctor has had success losing weight in the past. Either way – if you have an overweight doctor, maybe it is time to find a new one.

via TIME