Your Waist Size Predicts Your Health

By Kathi Fentress, CLT, CHT

Help For Health

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Your Waist Size Predicts Your Health

According to the CDC, the U.S. Center for Disease Control, heart disease is by far the No. 1 cause of death in the United States and much of the world.

The CDC says that 631,636 Americans died of heart disease in 2006. Half of the deaths occurred in women. Surprisingly, even though smoking-related heart disease remains the greatest cause of death, obesity-related heart disease is catching up.

How is your waist size and body shape related to heart disease?

According to researchers, the best tool for predicting your risk of heart disease may be a tape measurer. “Waist circumference is a vital sign,” says Dr. Robert Eckel, a heart expert at the University of Colorado and president-elect of the American Heart Association. In fact, increased waist size is a predictor of heart failure even when measurements of body mass index (BMI) fall within the normal range.

Recent studies have found that half of all fatal heart disease cases and a quarter of all non-fatal cases are linked to being overweight and having a high BMI, (the ratio of your weight in kilograms divided by the square of your height in meters) or having a large waist. With 66 percent of all adults in the United States being overweight or obese, this information is crucial to the well being of the average American.

Who is at greater risk?

Apparently, an apple shape is of more concern than a pear shape. That is, the so-called “pot bellied” person is at greater risk than a pear-shaped individual, who carries more weight in the hips. Overweight people are defined as having a BMI of between 25 and 30 and obese people of 30 or more.

According to the studies, you are at risk of serious health problems, including heart disease, if you are overweight. You are more at risk if you are obese, and at greatest risk if you are overweight or obese and your waist size is close to or above the following guidelines for your gender and ethnicity.

If your ethnicity is Eastern Mediterranean, European/Caucasian, Middle Eastern or Sub-Saharan African, the critical waist size (CWS) for women is 35 inches or 88 cm.

For men, your CWS is 40 inches or 102 cm. If your ethnicity is Southern Asian, Malaysian, Asian, Chinese, Japanese, or South or Central American, the CWS for women is 32 inches or 80 cm. For men your CWS is 35 inches or 90 cm.

Get an accurate measurement of your BMI and your CWS. There are a variety of resources to help you reduce and control your weight and waistline including lasers that quickly and painlessly sculpture your waist, supplements to help prevent your body from assimilating the fat you eat, machines that gently flush the fat-retaining toxins from your colon and detox programs that help you eliminate weight, heavy metals and other pollutants from your body.

These are only a few of the options, and now more than ever, you should take advantage of the advances in science and technology available today.