It is well established that people who continually refer to themselves as fat are dissatisfied with their bodies. Now new research indicates that people who talk about being old a lot are also dissatisfied.

According to UK scientists, body dissatisfaction is important because it is known to be linked with both mental and physical health problems, such as depression, stress and unhealthy eating behaviours, including binge eating.

They decided to look more closely at the impact of ‘fat talk' and ‘old talk' throughout women's lives. They surveyed almost 1,000 women who were aged between 18 and 87.

The study found that women talked about being fat and old throughout their lives, although talking about being fat was the more common of the two. Not surprisingly, ‘fat talk' was more common among younger women, while ‘old talk' became more common as women aged.

While it is already known that talking a lot about weight signals body dissatisfaction, the study found that those who talked a lot about weight and ageing tended to have a poorer image of their bodies.

The scientists said this is important because until now, most research ‘has focused on the effects of the thin ideal in younger women'.

Details of these findings are published in the Journal of Eating Disorders.