Insults from shop assistants, jibes from passers-by and abuse from teenagers are just some of the humiliations that are plunging overweight people further into ill health, research has found.

A Slimming World survey of 2,573 slimmers revealed as many as 40 per cent face some form of judgment, criticism or humiliation at least once a week.

The study found this weight discrimination doesn’t serve as motivation for weight loss, but merely exacerbates the issue. The discrimination prompted 65 per cent to turn to food for comfort, while only two per cent said it gave them a kick-start to make long-term health changes. Instead, the behaviour left 47 per cent of respondents feeling ashamed, 41 per cent depressed and 30 per cent feeling like they were useless.

The research could help provide valuable insights for the wellness industry, which is well-placed to harness its knowledge to promote weight loss through dietary and lifestyle programmes – particularly in January as people bid to make good on their New Year’s Resolutions.

From a fiscal perspective, there is also greater onus for employers to promote pre-emptive corporate wellbeing programmes after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) recently ruled that obesity can constitute a disability within European law. The judgement leaves employers facing the expense of providing extra resources such as priority parking and sturdier furniture for severely overweight employees – those with a BMI of more than 30.

"As a society we need to think more about how we treat people who struggle with weight and we need to be more aware of how discrimination can impact on people's feelings and lifestyle behaviours,” said Slimming World's research specialist Professor James Stubbs.

"Criticism of overweight people is widespread and not only is this rude and unpleasant, it's also really unhelpful when it comes to motivating people to lose weight. In fact the evidence suggests that it undermines people's attempts at controlling their weight and, for many, even causes increased weight gain.”