Source : Perth Now news
Belly fat may be a better warning sign for heart disease than body mass index (BMI), according to a major study.
Researchers found people with larger waistlines faced a higher risk of heart disease and death even when their BMI was in the normal or overweight range.
BMI is calculated by dividing weight by the square of height and is widely used by doctors to identify people who are overweight or obese.
But it does not show where fat is stored, meaning it can miss potentially dangerous fat around the middle.
The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, analysed data from 260,000 people followed for an average of 20 years.
Researchers compared BMI with waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio, a measure thought to better reflect fat stored around the abdomen.
Around five per cent of people with a normal BMI had a high waist circumference, while 18 per cent had a high waist-to-hip ratio.
Among those classed as overweight, around 40 per cent had both wider waists and high waist-to-hip ratios.
Meanwhile, nine per cent of people classified as obese had smaller waistlines.
The researchers found people who were normal weight or overweight but carried more fat around their middle were 15 to 50 per cent more likely to develop certain forms of heart disease.
By contrast, obese people with smaller waistlines were no more likely to develop a heart-related condition than normal-weight people with smaller waists.
The team said failing to account for central adiposity, the accumulation of fat around the abdomen, could lead to people being wrongly classified as having a lower cardiovascular risk.
Dr Zeina Dardari, lead author from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Maryland, said: “Our findings emphasise the critical role of identifying elevated central adiposity, even in individuals with a normal BMI or with a BMI in the overweight range.
“Relying solely on BMI may result in misclassification of cardiovascular risk across a wide range of cardiovascular outcomes.”
The findings suggest waist measurements could provide doctors with another useful tool when assessing heart attack, stroke and heart failure risk, rather than relying on the scales alone.
