Having a large waist can knock around 5 years off your life - even if your BMI is healthy
- A large waist increases risk of heart disease, breathing problems and cancer
- Men with waists above 43ins have about a three year lower life expectancy
- Women with waists above 37ins have about a five year lower life expectancy
Having a large waist can knock years off your life - even if your body mass index is healthy, scientists have warned.
A study found that men and women with large waist circumferences are more likely to die young than those with small waists.
They were also more likely to die from illnesses such as heart disease, respiratory problems, and cancer after accounting for body mass index, smoking, alcohol use and physical activity.
Having a large waist can knock three years off a man's life and five years off a woman's, research suggests
The researchers, from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, pooled data from 11 different studies, including more than 600,000 people from around the world.
They found men with waists 43ins or greater in circumference had a 50 per cent higher mortality rate than men with waists less than 35ins.
This translated to about a three year lower life expectancy after the age of 40.
Women with a waist circumference of 37ins or greater had about an 80 per cent higher risk of early death than those with a waist circumference of 27ins or less.
After the age of 40, this took around five years off life expectancy.
Importantly, risk increased in a linear fashion such that for every two inches of greater circumference, mortality risk went up about seven per cent in men and about nine per cent in women.
Another key finding was that the results were observed at all levels of BMI, even among people who had normal BMI levels.
Because of the large size of this pooled study, researchers were able to clearly show the independent contribution of waist circumference after accounting for BMI.
Even people with a healthy BMI were more likely to die early if they large around the middle, the researchers warned
Dr James Cerhan, a Mayo Clinic epidemiologist and lead author of the study said: ‘BMI is not a perfect measure.
‘It doesn’t discriminate lean mass from fat mass, and it also doesn’t say anything about where your weight is located.
‘We worry about that because extra fat in your belly has a metabolic profile that is associated with diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.’
The study, published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, concluded that physicians should consider both BMI and waist circumference as part of risk assessment for obesity-related premature mortality.
Dr Cerhan added: ‘The primary goal should be preventing both a high BMI and a large waist circumference.
‘For those patients who have a large waist, trimming down even a few inches, through exercise and diet, could have important health benefits.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2659959/Having-large-waist-knock-5-years-life-BMI-healthy.html#ixzz354Zb7Fim
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