A new research suggests normal-weight people who have more fat on their waistlines may be at a higher risk of death over the years than overweight or obese people whose fat is more distributed on the hips and thighs.
On Monday's study, experts showed that the distribution of fat matters whatever the scale says.
Dr. Samuel Klein, an obesity specialist at Washington University School of Medicine at St. Louis, wasn't involved in the new research; however he said that individuals whose waist is larger than their hips are more at risk of diseases.
Senior author of the study Dr. Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, a preventive cardiology chief at the Mayo Clinic explained that it also has implications for advising patients whose body mass index or BMI which is the standard measure for weight and height, puts them in the normal category despite a belly bulge. He said that there are a lot of patients they encounter who always says, 'My weight is fine. I can eat whatever I want,' However, the study's results will challenge that perception.
Abdominal fat, the main cause of an apple-shaped figure, has always been considered more alarming than fat that settles on the hips and below, which brands the so-called pear shape. Risk rises for men if their waist circumference is larger than 40 inches, and 35 inches for women. Nevertheless, doctors normally focus more on BMI than waistlines; after all, girth is likely to increase as weight does.
A BMI in the normal range however may not give the full story for people who are thin but not fit, with more fat than muscle, or whose shape changed as they aged and lose muscle, Lopez-Jimenez said.
His study examined what's called waist-to-hip ratio, which can be done by dividing the waist circumference by the hip measurement. There are different cutoffs, but a ratio greater than 1 means a bigger middle. In the study, 11 percent of men and 3 percent of women who has normal weight had an elevated waist-to-hip ratio. Surprisingly, they were at greater risk, especially for men, approximately twice the risk than more pear-shaped overweight or obese people.
