The effect of GLP-1 receptor agonist use on negative evaluations of women with higher and lower body weight

• Published in: International Journal of Obesity Vol. 48; no. 7; pp. 1019 - 1026
• Main Authors: Post, Stacy M., Persky, Susan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.07.2024; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 692/499; 692/700/2817; 692/700/478; Adult; Agonists; Attitudes; Body Image - psychology; Body size; Body weight; Body Weight - drug effects; Body weight loss; Design of experiments; Diet; Epidemiology; Experimental design; Female; GLP-1 receptor agonists; Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Humans; Internal Medicine; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Middle Aged; Obesity; Obesity - drug therapy; Obesity - psychology; Public Health; Receptors; Stereotypes; Stereotyping; United States; Weight control; Weight loss; Weight Loss - drug effects; United States
• ISSN: 0307-0565; 1476-5497; 1476-5497
• DOI: 10.1038/s41366-024-01516-4

Background GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) have dramatically altered obesity treatment. Media reports suggest that GLP-1 RAs users often report feeling judged for taking a “shortcut” to lose weight, which may be related to negative stereotypes toward people with larger bodies. Media reports also describe negative attitudes about lean people who take GLP-1 RAs to enhance their appearance. The present research used a 2 × 2 experimental design to test the effects of GLP-1 RA use and body size on attitudes and egocentric impressions. Subjects/Methods A sample of 357 U.S. adults ( M age  = 37.8, SD = 13) were randomly assigned to read about a woman, who either was lean or had obesity, and who lost 15% of her body weight either with diet/exercise or a GLP-1 RA. Participants answered questions measuring endorsement of negative weight-related stereotypes and egocentric attitudes toward the woman, as well as beliefs that she took a shortcut to lose weight and beliefs that biogenetic factors caused her baseline weight. Results Negative evaluations and egocentric impressions were stronger toward a woman who lost weight with a GLP-1 RA compared to diet/exercise. Losing weight with a GLP-1 RA led to stronger negative evaluations through higher weight loss shortcut beliefs irrespective of body size. Losing weight with a GLP-1 RA also led to higher egocentric impressions through higher shortcut beliefs, and this effect was stronger for a lean woman. Finally, losing weight with a GLP-1 RA led to more negative evaluations through stronger endorsement of biogenetic causal beliefs for a lean woman only. Conclusions This timely study provides evidence that people with larger and smaller bodies alike are at-risk for being judged for using GLP-1 RAs due to beliefs that these medications are a shortcut. Findings also demonstrate novel reactions related to egotism when weight loss is achieved with pharmacological interventions. Pre-registration and data osf.io/xme4w.