By Clare Hughes London

If medical students want to become trustworthy doctors then they need to get in shape, according to a study published in the journal Preventive Medicine in January. Researchers from Mercer University School of Medicine, Georgia, United States, found that "patients seeking care from non-obese physicians indicated greater confidence in general health counselling and treatment of illness than patients seeing obese physicians."

The researchers, headed by Robert Hash, wanted to find out if patients perceive healthcare advice differently when received from obese and non-obese doctors. A total of 226 patients in five doctors' surgeries took part in the survey. Two doctors were obese (a body mass index of 30 or more) and three were non-obese. The survey included questions on the doctor's characteristics and the patient's perceptions on receiving health advice from overweight doctors.

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The researchers found that patients receiving health advice and treatment from non-obese doctors had greater confidence than patients of obese doctors. The difference for weight and fitness counselling was not significant in this study, but other studies do suggest that doctors with personal weight management practices achieve both higher rates of weight counselling and weight loss efforts in their patients.

Counselling overweight patients about changing their lifestyle is one of the best methods of preventing and treating obesity. It is widely believed that doctors carrying out this sort of counselling should consider their own weight as an example to their patients. Doctors who actively try to lead healthy lifestyles are more likely to counsel their patients about healthy behaviour. Medical students ought to take lifestyle advice themselves and shape up if they want patients to take them seriously.