In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Paul Poirier, a cardiologist at the Quebec Heart and Lung Institute, said that to better identify people at the greatest risk for chronic diseases, clinicians should look beyond BMI and consider waist-hip ratio.
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“This idea that central obesity might be related to health issues is not new”. It found that extra fat in the stomach region means the area has less muscle mass, a factor that increases mortality risk and metabolic dysregulation.
Animal and human studies have recently shown that fat tissue in the legs and buttocks may have a favourable effect on glucose metabolism.
Dr Francisco Lopez-Jimenez said: “Normal-weight central obesity defined by WHR is associated with higher mortality than BMI-defined obesity, particularly in the absence of central fat distribution”. Although it’s not clear from this study how many people might fall into this category, he added.
Researchers in Norway have found that how healthcare professionals speak to people about their weight can affect their doctor-patient relationship.
However, a recent analysis showed that being obese according to BMI was actually associated with a lower risk of early death, challenging the view that high BMI is linked to increased mortality, he continued.
Health risks long linked to BMI, a few have argued, appear to be better captured by measures, such as the waist-to-hip circumference, that reflect not only how much fat people carry, but also where they carry that fat.
The guidelines assume that people with normal BMI are not exposed to any risks of obesity-related heart problems.
To draw its conclusions, researchers gathered a study population of 15,184 adults, ages 18 to 90, who had both their BMI and waist-to-hip ratios calculated, and tracked them for 15 years to see how many died of any cause.
Another group may be those who have excess body fat and illness, perhaps in early stages, causing loss of lean body mass, Katz said.
Slim people with beer bellies are at greater risk of death than those who are overweight or obese, a study has found.
More research is needed to understand the factors that can contribute to the development of normal weight central obesity and the link to health outcomes, the researchers say.
Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center, in New Haven, Conn., and president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, said the study findings raise the question: who would have more belly fat and still be at a normal weight according to their BMI?
At least, that’s the conclusion reached by new research published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Christopher Allen, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: “We all know that watching our weight is important, but often it’s forgotten that where you carry the weight makes a difference too”.
A normal weight male with more fat around the waist had an 87 percent increased risk of death during the study period compared to a man who was normal weight without extra belly fat.
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“Keeping physically active and eating a healthy, balanced diet will help control your weight and reduce your risk of diabetes and heart and circulatory diseases”.
