That Happened!

New York - An increased amount of abdominal fat has been linked to several health complications (diabetes, heart disease, and stroke). A recent study conducted added early death to the list of complications.

In recent years, scientists have been supporting the fact that a person’s Body Mass Index (BMI) is the most accurate way to assess risk for being overweight. Although this is true, some people have weight in certain areas of their body that have a more increased chance of developing into disease risks. Correlation in studies between hip and waist size and heart related diseases such as heart attacks and strokes are becoming increasingly higher, therefore confirming the belief that waist size is a higher risk factor for premature death than fat being stored anywhere else.

According to a study involving 360,000 people, for every five centimeters of additional fat in a person’s waist the risk of death is increased by 13% in the case of women and 17% in men. Even in comparisons with someone of the same BMI, the person who had the larger waist size was deemed to have a higher risk of death, and were more prone to various health related diseases. Scientists believe that fatty tissue in the body’s abdomen area are much more active than cells that are deposited in another area, say, the legs. These abdominal fat cells secrete cytokines, hormones which are metabolically active compounds that (if produced in excess) contribute to the development of cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

The study found:

* Men and women with the largest waists ( men >40 inches and >35 inches for women) had double the risk of premature death as men and women with the smallest waists (less than 34 inches for men and 28 for women).

* Each 2-inch increase in waist circumference was associated with a 17% increase in mortality in men and a 13% increase in women.

* Waist-to-hip ratio also strongly predicted mortality.

What’s scary is that even people with a BMI that is within the normal range (25-29) who had increased fat around their waist area were more predisposed to diseases than their counterparts of the same BMI. So even if you aren’t overweight, there still is a downside to having a big belly.

“We found that a large waist circumference is related to a higher risk of death even for individuals who have the same BMI [body mass index, a ratio of weight to height]. Therefore, you could say that adipose [fat] accumulation in the abdominal region is even more detrimental than just having an elevated BMI level,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Tobias Pischon, of the German Institute of Human Nutrition.

The study is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.