Ms Aline Tinoco
Aline Tinoco
Mexico & Latin Americas
“Providing spaces for girls, women and gender diverse people to tell their story is a crucial part of understanding their challenges and empowering them; this is a common thread to all of the work that I do.”
A Mexico City native, Aline Tinoco is a public health expert, academic and dietitian. She is passionate about promoting a holistic approach to girls’ and women’s mental health and wellbeing through her research, policy and consulting work. As a clinician, she loves working with her clients to help them find new ways to nourish their bodies and to move them for enjoyment and pleasure.
Aline’s work has spanned multiple settings and geographies with a common thread of body image, nutrition and mental health. She has worked on policy research for Action Against Hunger, delivered health interventions for Save the Children, and taught chemistry and gastronomy to nutrition undergraduate students. She has also consulted with international organisations like Oxfam and UNICEF on upskilling mothers and birth attendants with breastfeeding and infant feeding practices and working alongside teachers and girls on menstrual health projects.
Alongside her clinical work and consulting, she works as a Research Associate at the Centre for Appearance Research at the University of West of England. In this role she has worked with Dove and Nike to design and evaluate tools to support girls and coaches with body confidence in sport settings across the US, Mexico, India, Japan, UK and France.
How did you come to be a body image researcher?
I bring my background in public health and experience as a clinician to my research on body image. I’ve found that my particular skillset is especially useful in project managing international research projects and contributing my lived experience of working directly with communities and individuals.
I have always been interested in health and social justice, after two years in medical school I completed a Bachelor’s degree in Dietetics and Nutrition. I quickly realised during this time that focusing on counting calories, nutrients and weight-loss in my practice was too limiting. I could see that my patients’ health issues were caused and influenced by a lot more than just calories and nutrients. I have since adopted a Health At Every Size® approach to my counselling work. This framework rejects the use of weight as a measure of health and instead highlights that health is a continuum. It also acknowledges the broad social, cultural, economic and political forces that impact people’s health. This approach resonated with me, both in my work with underprivileged communities and in my private practice. In the early 2010s this approach was new in Mexico, and it was a small group of dietitians and psychologists who took on the task of sharing these learnings and updates happening in the English-speaking world.
After completing my Masters in Public Health, I also worked on adapting evidence-based interventions to meet the needs of women and children in Mexico and on policy research that contributed to discussions on the wider determinants of health. In 2020, I moved to the UK with my husband after the birth of my daughter, where I was fortunate to bring in my expertise to the Centre for Appearance Research and to focus on body image research specifically.
Tell us about a distinctive memory of how body image affected you?
Discrimination based on skin colour is highly prevalent in Mexico. I have early memories of my Aunts lamenting on the fact that I was brown and my brother was fair and blonde, and of being considered ugly and being bullied at school because of my skin. I am grateful to my parents who transmitted good values which prevented me from being deeply affected by these experiences. However, as a child and teenager this definitely took a toll on my confidence.
Why did you get into body image and mental health research and work?
I spent over a decade trying to bring together my interests in health and social justice. I explored many aspects of public health, clinical work and human rights, specifically children’s rights. The culmination of that search is what I do now, working as an applied body image researcher, clinician and consultant. I get to be at the forefront of the development of interventions and approaches that empower women, girls and gender diverse people through health education, awareness, improved access to health services, and reduced discrimination and stigma.
What work are you most proud of to date?
I am most proud of my work with underserved communities in Mexico. I interviewed mothers and traditional birth attendants and worked to create a program that upskilled women with safe birth and infant feeding practices. I also spoke to children travelling unaccompanied to work in sugar cane fields to inform the development of health interventions that keep children safe and stop companies from relying on child labour in their production chain. I worked with rural schools to understand their beliefs and attitudes towards menstruation and then worked alongside teachers to help them support their students’ to overcome the challenges we identified.
Most recently, leading and publishing my first first-author publication on girls and coaches’ experiences in relation to body confidence in sport settings in Mexico City brought me great satisfaction. It opened a new door to qualitative research and its importance in this field. Providing spaces for girls, women and gender diverse people to tell their story is a crucial part to understanding their challenges and empowering them; this is a common thread to all of the work that I do.
Why is this work important to you, where do you see it going and who would you like to work with?
For the past three years I have been fortunate to work on body image research in an academic setting and it’s been very rewarding. This work is very important because I have seen how body image concerns deeply impact girls, women and gender diverse people. It stops folks from living to their full potential and it can put them at risk of eating disorders, and limit their access to health services and to other opportunities due to discrimination.
In the future, I see more body image research being conducted in non-WEIRD countries (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, and Democratic), and it being applied to the development of tools, policies and campaigns that create more inclusive societies and help people push past appearance concerns to unlock their full potential.
I’d love to work with more girls and women in Mexico and Latin America, to create and promote platforms for them to express their concerns and hopes for a more inclusive society.
The Small Print
Education
Master of Science (Public Health), London Metropolitan University (2010-2011)
Bachelor of Dietetics and Nutrition, Escuela de Dietetica y Nutricion, Mexico City (2004-2008)
Current Appointments
Research Associate - Centre for Appearance Research, University of the West of England
Publications
Can be viewed here
When I’m not working, you’ll find me…
Cooking or baking for family and friends! I love to cook for my loved ones. For me, it is the ultimate demonstration of love and affection.
Spending glorious weekends with my daughter and husband, enjoying the most mundane things in life, going to the market, the library, the playground, or going on lovely walks in the countryside or the beach.
Travelling, which of course includes eating new and exciting flavours and visiting markets.
Reading historical fiction or novels from my favourite Latin American authors.
Connect with me
Find out more about Aline and their work.
Work with us
For information about working with Aline on your project please get in touch.