diff --git a/user/profile/field/textarea/field.class.php b/user/profile/field/textarea/field.class.php
index 11d39254573..956c092cbe0 100644
--- a/user/profile/field/textarea/field.class.php
+++ b/user/profile/field/textarea/field.class.php
@@ -11,6 +11,12 @@ class profile_field_textarea extends profile_field_base {
         $mform->setType($this->inputname, PARAM_CLEAN);
     }
 
+    /// Overwrite base class method, data in this field type is potentially too large to be
+    /// included in the user object
+    function is_user_object_data() {
+        return false;
+    }
+
 }
 
 ?>
diff --git a/user/profile/lib.php b/user/profile/lib.php
index eade89bd9a8..9a632c48051 100644
--- a/user/profile/lib.php
+++ b/user/profile/lib.php
@@ -162,6 +162,16 @@ class profile_field_base {
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Check if the field data should be loaded into the user object
+     * By default it is, but for field types where the data may be potentially
+     * large, the child class should override this and return false
+     * @return boolean
+     */
+    function is_user_object_data() {
+        return true;
+    }
+
 
 /***** The following methods generally should not be overwritten by child classes *****/
    
@@ -399,7 +409,7 @@ function profile_user_record($userid) {
             require_once($CFG->dirroot.'/user/profile/field/'.$field->datatype.'/field.class.php');
             $newfield = 'profile_field_'.$field->datatype;
             $formfield = new $newfield($field->id, $userid);
-            $user->{$field->shortname} = $formfield->data;
+            if ($formfield->is_user_object_data()) $user->{$field->shortname} = $formfield->data;
         }
     }