Waist Size Linked To Increased Risk Of Death
Seattle - For every five centimeters of additional fat in a person’s waist the risk of death is increased by 13% in the case of women and 17% in men, according to a study involving 360,000 people in nine European countries.
Scientists compared the body mass index (BMI) of the subjects. (The BMI remains the standard measure of obesity).
They found that in people with the same BMI, the risk of premature death increased as they increased waist circumference.
The research was carried out at the Imperial College of London, the German Institute of Human Nutrition and other European institutions.
The results also revealed that people with a big waist, over 120 cm in men and 100 cm in women, had twice the risk of dying prematurely. Scientists believe that adipose tissue in the body abdomens area secretes cytokines, hormones which are metabolically active compounds that contribute to the development of cardiovascular diseases and cancer. This compared with the risk of participants who had small waists, with less than 80 cm in men and 65 cm women.
“There are not many other single individual characteristics that may increase as much as this one, the risk of a person to die prematurely,” said Professor Elio Riboli, a researcher at the Imperial College
The study showed that people who had a normal BMI, but a waist bigger than the average, had a significantly higher risk of premature death.
Though the association between belly fat and an increase in health risks are not new, the study does offer scientists a more comprehensive picture.
“We found that a large waist circumference is related to a higher risk of death even for individuals who have the same BMI [body mass index, a ratio of weight to height]. Therefore, you could say that adipose [fat] accumulation in the abdominal region is even more detrimental than just having an elevated BMI level,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Tobias Pischon, of the German Institute of Human Nutrition.
Experts say that these results provide further evidence that the storage of excess fat around the waist is a significant risk to health, even when a person is not considered obese or overweight.
Hence, a simple and cheap way of analyzing an individual’s health is that family physicians regularly measure the waist and hips of their patients, say researchers.
The study is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“Hence, a simple and cheap way of analyzing an individual’s health is … regularly measure the waist and hips of their patients…”
Not! Better to use body fat calipers near navel and ileac crest. Are they really that immune to common sense?
80 cm comparison to 120 cm is a very large difference. I see almost no one with an 80 cm waist, I wish they gave European and American median waist sizes.I have an 81.2 cm waist and I am very thin. Under 80 cm looks unhealthy for an adult… You cannot trust review articles like this.
Personally, I’d rather die early than spend my whole life hungry so I can maintain a healty wasp-like waist. Anybody for a pizza?
Scott your missing the point of the article. its not entirely all about being overweight but rather where your body stores the weight. Visceral or subcutaneous. oh and calipers wont work well with large people, but then again common sense tells you they arent they healthiest
Science is one thing, applied science quite another. If all this is true, health insurance policies could use this data to offset premium costs accordingly, and in turn motivate people to loose some weight.