Research Shows Belly Fat Doubles Death Risk
Researchers examined data on 359,387 European adults followed for nearly 10 years who were enrolled in the larger, ongoing European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) health study.
They found that people with the most belly fat had about double the risk of dying prematurely as people with the least amount of belly fat.
During the follow-up period, 14,723 of the study participants died.
After adjusting for overweight and obesity, as measured by body-mass index (BMI), waist circumference and waist-to-hip measurements were both independently associated with an increased risk for early death.
Death risk increased with waist circumference, whether the participants were overweight or not.
The study provides some of the strongest evidence yet linking belly fat to early death, says lead author Tobias Pischon, MD, MPH.
“Our study shows that accumulating excess fat around your middle can put your health at risk even if your weight is normal,” he says. “There aren’t many simple individual characteristics that can increase a person’s risk of premature death to this extent, independent of smoking and drinking.”
So Are You an Apple or a Pear?
How do you tell if you have more belly fat than is healthy?
- To measure your waist circumference, place a tape measure around your waist at the smallest point, which is usually just above the navel. A waist size of 40 inches in men and 35 inches in women is generally considered to indicate increased health risk.
- Waist-to-hip ratio is calculated by measuring your waist at the smallest point and your hips at the widest point — usually at the widest part of the buttocks — and dividing the waist measurement by the hip measurement. A waist-to-hip ratio of greater than 0.9 for men and 0.8 for women is generally considered high risk.
For more info on this visit the November 12 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
