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This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Data All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2007.114769v1 98/3/501    most recent Submit a response Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Muennig, P. Articles by Lubetkin, E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Muennig, P. Articles by Lubetkin, E. Related Collections Obesity, Overweight, Underweight Social Science African Americans/Blacks Hispanics/Latinos Other Race/Ethnicity Socioeconomic Factors

Peter Muennig, MD, MPH, Haomiao Jia, PhD, Rufina Lee, PhD and Erica Lubetkin, MD, MPH

Peter Muennig is with the Department of Health Policy and Management, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY. Haomiao Jia is with the Columbia University School of Nursing, New York. Rufina Lee is a Psychiatric Epidemiology Training Fellow at Columbia University, New York. Erica Lubetkin is with the Department of Community Health and Social Medicine, City University of New York Medical School, New York.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Peter Muennig, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 600 W 168th St, Sixth Floor, New York, NY 10032 (e-mail: pm124{at}columbia.edu).

Objectives. We examined whether stress related to negative body image perception and the desire to lose weight explained some of the body mass index–health gradient.

Methods. We used 2003 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data to examine the impact of desired body weight, independent of actual body mass index, on the amount of physically and mentally unhealthy days by race, ethnicity, and gender.

Results. The difference between actual and desired body weight was a stronger predictor than was body mass index (BMI) of mental and physical health. When we controlled for BMI and age, men who wished to lose 1%, 10%, and 20% of their body weight respectively suffered a net increase of 0.1, 0.9, and 2.7 unhealthy days per month relative to those who were happy with their weight. For women, the corresponding numbers were 0.1, 1.6, and 4.3 unhealthy days per month. The desire to lose weight was more predictive of unhealthy days among women than among men and among Whites than among Blacks or Hispanics.

Conclusions. Our results raise the possibility that some of the health effects of the obesity epidemic are related to the way we see our bodies.