The search for the term Fatorexia on the main scientific databases, such as Pubmed, does not provide any result as the disorder has not yet been recognized by the scientific community.
But what is meant by the term Fatorexia?
In 2010 Sara J. Bird published the book “What do you see when you look in the mirror” where it describes the tendency to underestimate their body size in overweight or obesity people.
The author maintains that overweight or obese people suffering from Fatorexia They cannot or do not want to recognize their condition of overweight or obesity.
However, already in 1992, Jaime Brugos a Spanish nutritionist, in his publication he used the term megarexia to describe the failure to recognize the condition of overweight in subjects suffering from obesity. The term echoed in the Hispanic world, but has often been confused with the word Bigoressia.
The subjects with Fatorexia seem to suffer from Body image disorderssince the perception of one’s body is distorted. Unlike anorexia nervosa where the trend is to overestimate their body dimensions, people with Fatorexia are seen with a healthy weight or “just a little” overweight.
Furthermore, while in body dysmorphism disorder we find excessive concern for the physical appearance, those suffering from Fatorexia shows no attention or concern for the appearance of their body.
Some authors hypothesize that this disorder could be widespread: Seijo, (2016) estimates that for every person who suffers from anorexia nervosa, there are ten people suffering from Fatorexia.
What data and what research exist in support of this distortion of the body image in overweight or obese people?
The researchers used several methods to evaluate the perception of their body weight and their size in the subjects with obesity.
Gregory and colleagues (2008) asked a large sample of American subjects if they perceived themselves as very underweight, slightly underweight, normal, slightly overweight or very overweight.
The results indicate that a third of the participants with class II obesity were perceived only slightly overweight.
In 2010, Jones et al. They asked a sample of subjects with class II obesity if they perceived underweight, normal, overweight or obese. Half of them declared themselves only overweight.
The most recent studies
Bjerggaard and colleagues (2015) recruited a large sample of 2082 subjects who went from underweight to obesity. Only 11% of the subjects with obesity were classified as obese, while the majority defined themselves overweight or with a norm in the norm.
In a recent study, Manzoni et al (2017) asked to estimate his body size to a group of Subjects with obesity and subjects in normal pivals. Participants were asked to provide an estimate of the width and circumference of three different parts of the body: shoulders, life and hips.
According to the results, the subjects with obesity have underestimated their body dimensions, in particular the width of the shoulders and the circumference of life. While the normal breasters estimated accurately or overestimated the same parts of the body.
What are the causes of this body image disorder?
In a recent revision (Granese, V. et al, 2018) two possible theories are taken into analysis that could explain the underestimation of the body size in subjects with obesity:
Visual normalization theory
Individuals with obesity could think that the normal weight is in the direction of the overweight, since they are exposed to overweight bodies in their family and in social networks.
Some authors argue that the widespread increase in weight in the population has involved frequent exposure to higher bodyweights, which may have altered the visual perception of what constitutes a “normal” weight and has Moved the visual threshold beyond which a person is identified as overweight (Robinson, 2017).
This social explanation is also supported by neuroscientific data: if an individual has seen many bodies with high BMI, its internal reference (i.e. what it perceives as a representative body dimension) will be moved towards a heavier body dimension.
It follows that the ian individual of an individual to recognize his obesity It can be caused by the comparison with a reference point much closer to the current body dimension, compared to an absolute comparison point (Oldham & Robinson, 2015; Robinson & Kirkham, 2014).
Annocentric block theory
According to the Annocentric block theory of Riva and colleagues, in some individuals the ability to update the contents of the body matrix could be compromised. They could be blocked in an allocentric memory (from the outside) of the body that is no longer updated by conflicting self -centered representations led by perception.
In the case of people with Fatorexia, even if they perceive self -centered sensory signals relating to their overweight body, this information do not update allocentric body memory.
It follows that these individuals do not recognize their condition as a problem and consequently they underestimate their body dimensions.
What damage causes fastorexia?
The WHO reports that between 1975 and 2016, the prevalence of obesity has almost tripled worldwide so much so that it is about global crisis. Numerous pathologies and medical complications are associated with obesity.
The research data available today highlight a evident underestimation of the body size in subjects with obesity. This underestimation is harmful since the lack of identification of obesity represents an obstacle to the treatment: if you do not recognize that you are overweight or obese, help will not be sought by health professionals.
Further investigations on the Fatorexia will certainly be necessary: it is essential to better define the clinical characteristics of those subjects with obesity that do not recognize their condition e identify and set an effective treatment.
Bibliography
- Granese, V., Pietrabissa, G., & Mauro Manzoni, G. (2018). Do subjects with obsesity understimate their body size? A Narrative Review of Estimation Methods and Explaining Theories.
