Could our fixation on weight actually be harming, rather than helping, people’s health? Host Rachel Feltman is joined by Ragen Chastain, a writer, researcher and board-certified patient advocate, to discuss how weight stigma could be fueling many of the negative health outcomes we commonly link to weight gain.

This episode is part of “Health Equity Heroes,” an editorially independent special project that was produced with financial support from Takeda Pharmaceuticals.

Sign up for Chastain’s Substack newsletter, Weight and Healthcare

Recommended reading:

People Who Are Fat and Healthy May Hold Keys to Understanding Obesity

Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia. Sabrina Strings. NYU Press, 2019

Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness. Da’Shaun L. Harrison. North Atlantic Books, 2021

Email us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. Emily Makowski, Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices