ReviewObesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity2017
Overweight but unseen: a review of the underestimation of weight status and a visual normalization theory.
Review in Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 107 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
107 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet, Five-Year Weight Change, and Risk of Overweight and Obesity: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2022Pooled it
- Normal Weight Obesity and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Pooled it
- Factors Influencing Parents' and Children's Misperception of Children's Weight Status: a Systematic Review of Current Research.Current obesity reports · 2019Pooled it
- Relationship between Body Image and Body Weight Control in Overweight ≥55-Year-Old Adults: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Pooled it
- Barriers and facilitators to health care professionals discussing child weight with parents: A meta-synthesis of qualitative studies.British journal of health psychology · 2018Pooled it
- A systematic review of the relationship between weight status perceptions and weight loss attempts, strategies, behaviours and outcomes.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2018Pooled it
- Motivations for and experience with labor induction at 39 weeks in women with obesity-A qualitative study.Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica · 2025Trial
- Lipidemic Profile Changes over a Two-Year Intervention Period: Who Benefited Most from the Feel4Diabetes Program?Nutrients · 2020Trial
- Behavioral and Psychological Correlates of Depressive Symptoms in Korean Women: Attenuation of the Perceived Body Size Association After Adjustment.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Novel Clinical and Pre-clinical Obesity Estimates in Older Indian Adults: Insights from a Nationally Representative Dataset.Diabetes therapy : research, treatment and education of diabetes and related disorders · 2026Article
- Beyond BMI: Personalized Nutrition in Obesity, Normal-Weight Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome, and MASLD.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Weight Perception Varies by Local Peer Body Size Norms Among US Adolescents.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2026Article
- Trends and Disparities in Clinician Diagnosis of Overweight and Obesity.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Influence of weight perception on the evolution of body composition of adolescents under obesity treatment.European journal of pediatrics · 2026Article
- Body weight perception and body self-esteem in adolescents with overweight or obesity in Costa Rica: challenges for public health policy.Revista panamericana de salud publica = Pan American journal of public health · 2026Article
- Article
- Parental estimates of children's weight status: evidence from Serbian children aged 6-9 years.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- Lifestyle Behaviors and Psychological Health in Adolescents with Overweight or Obesity: Cross-sectional Associations with Weight Underestimation.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2025Article
- Behavioral Change Intervention to Promote a Healthier Postpartum Lifestyle: Mixed Methods Pilot Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
47 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
Although overweight and obesity are widespread across most of the developed world, a considerable body of research has now accumulated, which suggests that adiposity often goes undetected. A substantial proportion of individuals with overweight or obesity do not identify they are overweight, and large numbers of parents of children with overweight or obesity fail to identify their child as being overweight. Lay people and medical practitioners are also now poor at identifying overweight and obesity in others. A visual normalization theory of the under-detection of overweight and obesity is proposed. This theory is based on the notion that weight status is judged relative to visual body size norms. Because larger body sizes are now common, this has caused a recalibration to the range of body sizes that are perceived as being 'normal' and increased the visual threshold for what constitutes 'overweight'. Evidence is reviewed that indicates this process has played a significant role in the under-detection of overweight and obesity. The public health relevance of the under-detection of overweight and obesity is also discussed.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.