Tackling poverty would also tackle obesity says academic

around 72% of the population is considered overweight or obese.

The participants were all people falling into the category of clinically obese and financially deprived.

Prof Bissell said the culture of “fat-shaming” has exacerbated the issue, with overweight people feeling “laughed at” and “mocked” and eating more as a comfort mechanism.

He said: “There is now much more fat shaming, stigma and hatred around obesity. If you ally that with social class, then it is people who are poor and obese who can be publicly laughed at.

“Many of our participants experience extremely high levels of shame and humiliation because they are obese. And one of the things they do to manage their unhappiness is to eat more.”

He added: “It is tougher for poorer people to cope with the stigma of obesity and indeed cope with losing weight, because of their material circumstances and the fact that they have got less cultural capital.”

Researchers also claimed that obesity is linked to neo-liberal economic policies, which they allege have led to greater inequality and welfare cuts.

Prof Bissell added: “If we did something about the social gradient in income and wealth, we would also be able to do something meaningful about the social gradient in obesity.”