Thursday
Nov132008
Bigger Bellies Boost Fat Risk?
Thursday, November 13, 2008 at 8:51AM 
Bad news for buddha bellies today: A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that having a large waistline can almost double your risk of dying prematurely even if your body mass index (BMI) is within the 'normal' range.
The study also showed that the ratio of waist to hips is also an important indicator of health. Lower waist-hip ratios indicate that the waist is comparatively small in relation to the hips. The ratio is calculated by dividing the waist measurement by the hip measurement.
This is good news for you data crunchers out there. Professor Elio Riboli, the European coordinator of the study, said:
...you don't need to take an expensive test and wait ages for the result to assess this aspect of your health - it costs virtually nothing to measure your waist and hip size. Doctors and nurses can easily identify people who need to take certain steps to improve their health by routinely monitoring these measurements. If you have a large waist, you probably need to increase the amount of exercise you do every day, avoid excessive alcohol consumption and improve your diet. This could make a huge difference in reducing your risk of an early death.
A similar study published earlier this year also shows that women who carry excess fat around their waists were at greater risk of dying early from cancer or heart disease than were women with smaller waistlines, even if they were of normal weight.
A large waist can almost double your risk of premature death, says huge Europe-wide study
Reader Comments (1)
Good stuff to get the word out on Monica. We have a doctor that comes in to our office once a week, just to meet with people on health issues, answer questions, and then occasionally he'll put on some sort of talk. Recently he did one on metabolic syndrome - essentially characterized by excessive fat around the abdomen - and how this increased the chances of coronary disease. Fits in well, I think, with what you are talking about. And such an important point to remember. Sometimes we get obsessed with the number on a scale, or BMI, or ??. And, although these can matter - sometimes it's just simple things like - how big is your waist...no need to overcomplicate it...