Curvy models 'make women fat'

The tiny frames and protruding collarbones of size zero catwalk models have long been a source of debate in the fashion industry, but now researchers from the University of Bologna in Italy have upped the ante. A controversial new study claims that curvy models are bad for our health

Curvy models
Curvy models
(Image credit: Rex Features)

The tiny frames and protruding collarbones of size zero catwalk models have long been a source of debate in the fashion industry, but now researchers from the University of Bologna in Italy have upped the ante. A controversial new study claims that curvy models are bad for our health

The tiny frames and protruding collarbones of catwalk models have long been a source of debate in the fashion industry, but now researchers from the University of Bologna in Italy have upped the ante.

A controversial new study claims that curvy models are bad for our health.

‘To promote chubby fashion models when obesity is one of the major problems of industrialised countries seems to be a paradox,’ say the authors of the report, Dr Davide Dragone and Dr Luca Savorelli.

They claim that increasing the size of catwalk models will change our perception of the ‘ideal’ weight and cause more of us to pile on the pounds.

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The comments come on the same day as the revelation that we eat more after seeing images of overweight people.

The study published in the Journal of Consumer Research claims that if our friends carry a few extra pounds, just being in their presence can trigger a binge.

‘Seeing someone overweight leads to a temporary decrease in a person’s own commitment to his or her health goal,’ say authors Margaret Campbell and Gina Mohr.

The researchers showed test groups of men and women images of different body shapes and found that they ate twice as much after seeing images of overweight people.

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