New research at this year’s European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2026) argues that understanding how obesity has been depicted in art through the ages should make doctors more empathetic and less judgmental, leading to better outcomes for patients.
Michael Yaffe, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center (UT Health) in Houston, Texas, also speculates that future art will feature the “GLP-1 face,” the haggard look that can occur when people lose large amounts of weight rapidly with GLP-1 drugs.
Using examples from works of art spanning centuries, Dr. Yaffe explains how, until relatively recently, obesity was seen as a sign of prosperity, wealth, high social status, and physical fitness.
Being fat has long been a symbol of prosperity, wealth, high social status, and physical strength. Obese men were depicted as heroes, leaders, royalty, and nobility, and women with excess body fat were symbols of beauty, fertility, and prosperity. ”
Michael Yafi, Pediatric Endocrinologist, University of Texas Health Science Center (UT Health), Houston, Texas
One of the earliest examples of this is the Venus of Willendorf, a stone statue thought to be between 24,000 and 32,000 years old. Dr. Yaffe said the photo depicts a woman with excess body fat and an exaggerated size of her hips, breasts, and other reproductive organs.
Further examples can be found in medieval religious art, where children and angels were depicted with folds of skin or excess body fat.
“Obesity was also a symbol of power,” says Dr. Yaffe. “We know from a Turkish study that 29 of the 36 Ottoman emperors who lived from 1258 to 1926 were described as having abdominal obesity or were reported to be obese.”
Composers Bach and Handel were also depicted as having excessive body fat. “Both Bach and Handel had vision loss with age, which many people attribute to type 2 diabetes,” says Dr. Yaffe.
And for centuries, artists like Rubens and Renoir have been inspired by women with excess body fat.
What about Mona Lisa? Dr Yaffi said: “Lisa Gherardini, the enigmatically smiling woman in Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic painting, is depicted with excess body fat. It has been speculated that she suffered from a lipid metabolism disorder, meaning she could not break down fat properly, but a simpler explanation is that she gained weight during pregnancy, after all she had given birth to four children by this time.”
According to Dr. Yaffe, the depiction of obesity changed in the second half of the last century, when doctors discovered the link between diets rich in saturated fat and obesity, metabolic and cardiovascular disease.
“This has led to the glamorization of images of thin, often unrealistically thin men and women, and the stigmatization of obesity,” he explains. “Suddenly, thin people became beautiful, and the women who had inspired artists for centuries were no longer considered attractive.”
GLP-1 drugs now allow people to lose significant amounts of weight. For some people, this has led to a rapid loss of fat in the cheeks, temples, and under the eyes, causing wrinkles to become more prominent, skin to look loose, and the eyes to appear sunken, the “GLP-1 face.”
“People are talking about this effect, plastic surgeons are documenting it, and I think as more people use these drugs, we’ll start to see the face of GLP-1 depicted in art,” Dr. Yaffe says. “If Picasso were alive today, he would probably have painted this.”
Dr. Yaffe, a former concert pianist with a long-standing interest in the arts, argues that combining medicine and art in this way will help doctors better understand obesity.
“If doctors understand that obesity has been viewed as a positive thing for centuries, they will be less judgmental and more empathetic,” he says. “This should allow us to treat patients more holistically and help them achieve better outcomes.”
sauce:
European Obesity Research Association
