We have prejudice against fat people since 4 years old

From the age of 4, people were more friendly to people with normal weight than obese people.

Artwork: blogspot.com.

Professor Andrew Hill, a researcher at the Institute of Health Sciences at the University of Leeds in the UK, and colleagues conducted an experiment to understand children's views of fat people. They recruited 126 children (both boys and girls) from 4 to 6 years old and told a story about Alfie, a man. Despite the same story, the children saw four illustrations of Alfie, according to which the characters were fat, normal, skinny and disabled, Science Daily reported.

After telling the story, Hill asked them to describe Alfie. He found that the majority of children described Alfie as a normal mass who is a good learner, satisfied with appearance, or invited to a party and always wins the competitions. In the meantime, they often describe "Alfie Fat" and "Alfie Disabled" who often lose, learn badly, or cause trouble at school and don't like their looks. However, the number of children boycotting "Alfie disabled" is lower than the number of children boycotting "Alfie fat".

"This finding shows that babies start to have a sense of body shape since they are 4 years old. They like people with normal weight and leaner than fat people , " Hill said.

The team announced the discovery in a European Union's obesity conference in the city of Liverpool on May 15.