Your Weight & Your Waist

1 min

This news comes from a recent review of 72 studies that included data on more than two and a half million people. Researchers from Canada and Iran determined that the larger one’s waist measured, the higher their risk of premature death. The investigation showed that each four-inch increase in waist size was linked to an 11 percent increased relative risk for premature death. But the report had some good news for women: the bigger your thighs the lower your risk – each two-inch increase in thigh circumference was linked with an 18 percent lower risk of death. And data from nearly 300,000 women revealed that a four-inch increase in hip circumference was linked to a 10 percent lower risk of death. Study co-author Tauseef Ahmad Khan of the University of Toronto was quoted in news reports as saying thigh size is an indication of the amount of muscle, which is protective, and that hip fat is considered beneficial. You can calculate your own risks via an online fat calculator.

Source:
Ahmad Jayedi et al, “Central fatness and risk of all cause mortality: systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of 72 prospective cohort studies,” BMJ, September 23, 2020 doi: doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m3324