Waist Size & Health
More than 60 years ago, the French physician Jean Vague observed that people with larger waists had a higher risk of premature cardiovascular disease and death than people who had trimmer waists or carried more of their weight around their hips and thighs. Decades later, long-term follow-up studies showed that so-called “abdominal obesity” was strongly associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and death, even after controlling for body mass index (BMI).
In people who are not overweight, having a large waist may mean that they are at higher risk of health problems than someone with a trim waist.
The Nurses’ Health Study, one of the largest and longest studies to date that has measured abdominal obesity, looked at the relationship between waist size and death from heart disease, cancer, or any cause in middle-aged women. (4) At the start of the study, all 44,000 study volunteers were healthy, and all of them measured their waist size and hip size.
After 16 years, women who had reported the highest waist sizes — 35 inches or higher –had nearly double the risk of dying from heart disease, compared to women who had reported the lowest waist sizes (less than 28 inches). (4)
Women in the group with the largest waists had a similarly high risk of death from cancer or any cause, compared with women with the smallest waists. The risks increased steadily with every added inch around the waist.
The study found that even women at a “normal weight” BMI less than 25 were at a higher risk, if they were carrying more of that weight around their waist: Normal-weight women with a waist of 35 inches or higher had three times the risk of death from heart disease, compared to normal-weight women whose waists were smaller than 35 inches.
What is it about abdominal fat that makes it strong marker of disease risk? The fat surrounding the liver and other abdominal organs, so-called visceral fat, is very metabolically active. It releases fatty acids, inflammatory agents, and hormones that ultimately lead to higher LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, blood glucose, and blood pressure.
Visceral fat is one of the measurements for determining Body Age
The following guidelines are from the British NHS:
Regardless of your height or body mass index (BMI), you should try to lose weight if your waist is:
94cm (37in) or more for men
80cm (31.5in) or more for women
You're at very high risk of some serious health conditions and should see a GP if your waist is:
102cm (40in) or more for men
88cm (34.5in) or more for women
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-definition/abdominal-obesity/
https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/lifestyle/why-is-my-waist-size-important/
