Testing Obesity
Apple shaped? - bad news. Pear shaped? - good news.
Stop wondering
how you can check if you are carrying too much dangerous fat as far as your heart is concerned
The waist to hips ratio measurement is the best heart attack predictor for mixed race African body types.
It is commonly agreed that being significantly overweight or obese, increases the chance of having heart problems. What is the best measure for deciding if we are obese? In particular what is the best measure for predicting future heart problems?
Unfortunately most tests have tended to only be a good predictor with Caucasian body types.
When applied to other body types - Caribbean for example - most indicators do not seem to be as good a predictor of future heart problems even when their diet and lifestyle are similar to Caucasians. This includes popular measurements such a the Body Mass Index (BMI).
It would also be nice to have a test that is easy to work out!
Research published in the UK medical journal The Lancet on 3 November 2005 gave the results of a study conducted on more than 27,000 people in 52 countries. Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East were represented, along with Australia and New Zealand. Around half of them had previously had a heart attack . The rest had never had a heart attack. Surveys were taken of the participant's lifestyle, their background, and heart risk factors (including family history of heart disease).
General medical advice seems to indicate that a ratio of 0.8 for women & 0.9 for men or below is fairly safe. A ratio of 1 or above (hips smaller than waist) should cause some concern.
The measurements were used in various tests to see which test best identified those who had already had a heart attack across ALL the racial body types. The BMI was especially bad a predicting with the south Asian, Arab, and mixed-race African heart attack survivors.
Various body measurements were done by staff at more than 200 centres, following specific instructions.
The best predictor was the waist to hips ratio measurement. This achieved the best results with all racial groupings tested. This fits in with research showing that abdominal fat is associated with heart disease much more than fat on the thighs. Further research is to be carried out to find how the effects of weight loss & reducing waists effects the usefulness of the test.
To get your waist to hips measurement, divide your waist measurement by your hips measurement. It does not matter if you use inches or centimetres. Compare you answer with the box above. Simple.
