Perception of Overweight by Mexican Physicians and Teachers

In a study conducted among people with diabetes, McTigue et al. (1) repotted that although most overweight people with diabetes accurately perceived their weight as higher than ideal for health, many overestimated the weight that would be the healthiest for them. This result suggests that people with diabetes (and health care professionals and diabetes educators who should persuade them otherwise) see their weight as something of low importance. This could be the beginning of a trend toward reducing the importance of losing weight among health care providers. In 2004 and 2005 in Baja California, Mexico, we conducted a survey among 205 elementary school teachers, 80 parents, and 138 physicians working in Tijuana and Ensenada.