Obese patients are the most likely to disagree with doctors when given lifestyle advice

The study, by the University of Toulouse and published in the journal Family Practice, investigated whether the interactions between 27 GPs and 585 patients varied according to the patient’s body mass index (BMI).

Researchers analysed the level of their disagreement on information and advice given during consultations.

They found the greater the doctor-patient disagreement, the more overweight the patient was, with differences of opinion particularly pronounced for advice given by doctors on weight and lifestyle issues.

Compared to patients with a “normal” BMI, overweight patients were more likely to disagree with their doctors regarding advice given on weight loss, doing more physical activity and nutrition.

One in four British adults and around one in five children aged 10 to 11 are estimated to be obese, according to the NHS.

Professor Paul Aveyard, a professor of behavioural medicine at the University of Oxford who advises NHS England on obesity, told The Telegraph: “Both the patients and the doctors are correct. It’s due to diet and physical activity and it’s due to factors which are at least not easily controlled by the individual, which are things like genes.

“What genes do is determine your appetite, which determines how much you eat.”

He said counteracting genetically influenced behaviours while being bombarded by adverts for food “requires continued effort”.