Christine Webb, Your Health And Fitness

A new study shows Americans are not very nice to people who are overweight, and many people think that's just fine.

Researchers at Yale University recently compared self-reported weight discrimination with race- and gender-based discrimination, and found it just as common.
 
In fact, researchers found, obesity discrimination was even more prevalent than discrimination based on ethnicity, sexual orientation and religious beliefs.

The reason is that many people assume that body weight is a choice, and they feel that it shouldn't be considered a legitimate form of stigma or discrimination. Experts say that is wrong.

The results are reported in the International Journal of Obesity.

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