Adherence
Public awareness of the clinical success of anti-obesity medications (AOMs) does not reduce obesity stigma or shift public perception of obesity from a failure of willpower to a biological medical condition.
Health communicators and policymakers should not assume that highlighting the success of GLP-1 medications will automatically reduce obesity stigma. Since stigma is robustly linked to personal weight loss experiences and willpower beliefs, interventions must directly address these cognitive biases rather than relying on medical awareness alone.
Contrary to the study hypotheses, reading about AOMs did not increase the degree to which participants viewed obesity as a medical condition, nor did it reduce the role willpower failure was believed to play in obesity.
Why this rating
Two randomized controlled studies with a combined N=640, pre-registered hypotheses, and robust statistical power (80%).
Source
Views Among the General Public on New Anti‐Obesity Medications and on the Perception of Obesity as a Failure of Willpower
Maya Goldkorn et al. · Obesity Science & Practice · 2025
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