Academic literature on the topic 'Fat studies'

Since the turn of the twentieth century, middle-class Americans have considered the thin body--ostensibly the result of self-control and self-discipline--a moral imperative and a symbol of good citizenship. In this thesis, I provide a critical perspective on fat studies by examining the ways in which the field authorizes itself in a society that deems the fat body unhealthy, costly, and immoral. As one potential solution to fat-hatred, fat studies proposes fat-positivity, but I argue that fat-positivity requires an extraordinary act of imagination in which the fat person overcomes what I term the ideology of thinness and subsequently feels good about herself. Importing models of ambivalence from disability studies, I propose ambivalence as an alternative to fat-positivity. I argue that ambivalence is a legitimate response when living in a society that de-values one's embodiment, but ambivalence is undertheorized by fat studies scholars. In Chapter 2, I analyze from a feminist perspective Tweets with the hashtag "feeling fat," tracing the emotion to cultural ambivalence about consumption and consumerism. In Chapter 3, I examine how the genre of the fat memoir authorizes itself during an "obesity epidemic" and what those methods reveal about gendered selfhood. Instead of indicting these Twitter users and fat memoirists for their purported lack of fat-positivity, I emphasize instead the social situations that give rise to these cultural forms. I suggest that drawing attention to ambivalence is a form of political resistance.

The aim of this work was to compare magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and 3-(TCM) and 4-compartment (FCM) models for the estimation of body fat and changes in fat mass (FM) in man. FM was estimated in 10 obese women by MRI and a TCM based on underwater weighing (UWW) and body water dilution (D₂O) at the start and end of a 21 day residential weight reducing regimen. Mean (SEM) MRI estimates of FM before weight loss were 3.19 (0.25) kg below values from TCM, however, FM change over the 21 days by MRI agreed well with TCM. In 8 women, intra-abdominal (IAT), subcutaneous (SAT) and total (TOT) adipose tissue area was calculated from MRI at 2,9 and 9 sites respectively. Mean (SEM)% reductions were 14.0 (12.0)% (p<0.01); 8.2 (2.0)% (p<0.0001) and 11.8 (2.5)% (p<0.0001) respectively. In another series of studies, FM was estimated by 2-compartment methods: UWW, D₂O, dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), skinfold thickness, bioelectrical impedance; TCM and a 4-compartment method (FCM) based on UWW, D₂O and DXA in 28 women [16 non-obese (NW), 12 obese (OW)] and 19 men [13 non-runners (NM), 6 runners (MR)]. Estimates of FM by the 2-compartment methods agreed more closely with TCM and FCM than with each other. Agreement with FCM was best in NM and worst in OW. No difference was found between fat mass estimated by TCM and FCM in men. Average density of the fat free mass (FFM) was 1.113 (NW), 1.112 (NM), 1,106 OW, 1.106 (MR) g/ml. Hydration of the FFM was 0.743 (OW), 0.717 (MR), 0.713 (NW), 0.700 (NM). MRI has considerable potential as a method for estimating body fat and provides information on adipose tissue distribution. Multi-compartment methods appear to reduce errors in the FM estimated by 2-compartment methods.

In the field of research within film studies which consider how aspects such as gender or race affect the portrayal of a character, the aspect of characters' body sizes are not always taken into account. By analysing the fat characters in the popular children's and young adult film series about Harry Potter, I bring attention to the fact that the use of stereotypes is significant in these characterisations, and further contributes to the marginalisation of this particular group of people. I looked specifically at what the characters had in common with each other, and if they adhered to already established stereotypes concerning fat people, and found that the one thing they all share is a lack of academic or intellectual skill to varying degrees, which is in line with the common stereotypes of fat people as dumb. I further analysed the differences between the fat men and fat women in the series, and found that fat men were a far more common occurrence than fat women, and that fat girls did not even exist in these stories. This is not surprising, as the exclusion of fat women and girls is abundant in mainstream culture.

Exaggerated postprandial lipaemia has been implicated in the development of atherosclerosis. Thus, by reducing postprandial TAG concentrations, exercise may play a role in delaying atherogenic progression. This thesis sought to explore the qualitative nature of, and the mechanisms behind, the moderate exercise-induced attenuation to postprandial lipaemia. Before the experimental studies commenced, a reproducibility study was undertaken. This showed that in a group of eight middle-aged men, the postprandial plasma TAG response differed by only 1.9 ± 5.1 % (mean ± standard error) on a testretest basis, indicating that the oral fat tolerance test had enough precision to detect the effect of exercise on TAG metabolism. Previous work suggested that the exercise-induced reduction to lipaemia was linked to the energy expended by exercise. As the attenuation may have been mediated by energy deficit, rather than exercise per se, a study comparing the effect of a 90-minute moderate exercise session with an equivalent dietary-induced energy deficit on postprandial lipid metabolism was undertaken, in a group of eleven postmenopausal women. This showed that the reduction in postprandial lipaemia elicited by exercise was far greater than that elicited by intake-restriction (20 % vs. 7 %). The second experimental study aimed to establish the effect of a 90-minute moderate exercise session on postprandial chylomicron- and very-Iow-density lipoprotein (VLDL)-TAG concentrations, and its effect on exogenous (through use of a l3e-Iabelled lipid) and endogenous fat oxidation, in a group oftwelve middle-aged men. Exercise reduced postprandial lipaemia by 23 %, and over three-quarters of this reduction was due to lower VLDL-TAG concentrations. Increases in endogenous fat oxidation accounted for over half of the increase in postprandial fat oxidation. In the third experimental study, the effect of a 90-minutes moderate exercise session on Intralipid clearance, and postprandial lipaemia, was determined in a group of eight middle-aged men. Exercise attenuated postprandial lipaemia by 18 %, but did not increase Intralipid clearance. Taken together, these data imply that moderate exercise predominantly reduced postprandial TAG concentrations by reducing hepatic VLDL secretion, rather than increasing TAG clearance, and this effect is not mediated by whole-body energy deficit. In addition, this work has shown that moderate exercise is effective at attenuating postprandial lipaemia in middle-aged men and postmenopausal women.