This recommendation is made based on a specific study. This study looked at over 380,000 adults who lived in the United Kingdom. One of the conclusions was that the waist to hip measure was better able to predict the deaths of people who died from any cause over the results of the BMI.
Of the 380,000 adults, researchers took time to look at the 25,000 people who provided health information up to their deaths. These folks were placed into control groups with people of the same age and sex. In addition, researchers checked to see if anyone had genes linked to obesity, their body measurements in both BMI and waist to hip measurement.
One of the conclusions from this study is those who had a lower waist to hip ratio were less likely to die earlier than those with a higher waist to hip ratio. As the waist to hip ratio increased, the possibility of an earlier death increased. In addition, the results were more pronounced in men than in women.
The waist to hip ratio is much easier to calculate than the BMI. One simply divides the waist measurement by the hip measurement. So if your waist measures 30 inches around and your hips measures 35 inches, then divide 30 by 35 and your ratio is 0.86. According to the World Health Organization, if the measurement is over 0.85 for women is considered high risk while anything over 0.90 for men is high risk.
Doctors within the field of obesity are relying more and more on the waist to hip ratio to determine if a person is obese. In addition, more and more doctors are stating that the waist to hip ratio is much more accurate especially if all the fat is around the waist. Unfortunately, when the fat is carried around the waist, a person is more likely to suffer from heart disease and diabetes 2.
I think I'd use the waist to hip ratio since it is easier to use and appears to be more reliable. Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.
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