Originally published November 10 2005
Researcher favors waist-to-hip ratio over BMI to predict heart attack risk
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Salim Yusuf of McMaster University in Ontario led research that suggests the waist-to-hip ratio is three times more effective than body mass index (BMI) at predicting heart attack risks.
The traditional measure for obesity -- a rough estimate of body fat, based on height and weight, called the body mass index -- is misleading and obsolete, and should be replaced with a new calculation called the waist-to-hip ratio, a new study concludes.
Researchers, led by Salim Yusuf of McMaster University of Hamilton, Ont., found that WHR is three times better than BMI for predicting your risk of a heart attack.
Further, it suggests that big hips reduce the risk of disease -- or heart disease at the very least -- because larger hips tend to suggest more muscle mass.
But both people cited earlier as examples, with their markedly different waist and hip size, could theoretically have the same BMI, even if one was much more muscular and carrying far less abdominal fat.
"What we know is that fat in the abdomen, which is associated with a larger waist, is metabolically active and produces various hormones that can cause harmful effects, such as causing diabetes, affecting blood pressure, affecting lipid [blood fat] levels," said Dr. Yusuf.
"Fat in the abdomen may also relate to fat in the liver, and that makes the liver not function well."
Canadian researchers have, for a number of years, argued that the most important tool for determining a person's risk of heart disease and diabetes is a measuring tape, not a scale.
Researchers have, in the past, argued that BMI is a particularly poor measure in ethnic groups where -- to generalize -- people tend to be very thin, such as the Chinese, or very stocky, such as Arabs.
To calculate if you have a healthy waist-to-hip ratio, use a measuring tape to determine the circumference of your hips at the widest part of your buttocks.
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