Waistline Beats BMI In Predicting Diabetes Risk

By Geoff Michaels, June 7th, 2013 | Health | 0 Comments

Research finds that looking at a man’s waistline gives a better idea of his diabetes risk than looking at his body-mass index.

Scientists from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health grouped more than 27,000 men according to their waist sizes. Nearly 900 of them had diabetes.
The study showed men with waist sizes bigger than 34 inches were at least twice as likely to have diabetes. Those with waist sizes of 40 and above were up to 12 times more likely to have type 2 diabetes.
The risk wasn’t as pronounced when grouping the men based on their body-mass index, which is a formula based on weight and weight.

“Both BMI and waist circumference are useful tools to assess health risk,” researchers said. “But abdominal fat measured by waist circumference can indicate a strong risk for diabetes whether or not a man is considered overweight or obese according to his BMI.”
This study backs up past research that fat around the waistline “is worse for you than other kinds of fat.”