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Survey: In U.S., overweight's still attractive
Associated Press
Published January 12, 2006
Thin is still in, but it looks like fat is nowhere near as out as it used to be.
A survey finds America's attitudes toward overweight people are shifting from rejection toward acceptance. Over a 20-year period, the percentage of Americans who said they find overweight people less attractive steadily dropped from 55 percent to 24 percent, the market research firm NPD Group found.
With about two-thirds of U.S. adults overweight, Americans seem more accepting of heavier body types, researchers say. The survey of 1,900 people representative of the U.S. population also found other more relaxed attitudes about weight and diet.
The survey's findings aren't that surprising, as attitudes about weight constantly shift, said John Cawley, associate professor at Cornell University's College of Human Ecology.
"I don't think we're going to go back to worshiping obese women, but it's interesting to see how attitudes change as more people become overweight," Cawley said.
[Last modified January 12, 2006, 01:25:23]
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