A Larger Waist Might Prove Deadly

A new report in the August 9/23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine says that people with a large waist circumference have bigger risks of dying over a period of nine years.

Researchers at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta analyzed the possible link between risk of death and waist circumference in 48,500 men and 56,343 women age 50 and older, that took part in the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort.

They filled out questionnaires about medical, demographic and behavioral factors between in 1992 or 1993 and gave information about their weight and waist circumference in 1997.

The National Death Index followed deaths and their causes until December 31, 2006 and during this timeframe 9,315 men and 5,332 women died.

The results were adjusted depending on BMI and other risk factors and people with very large waists, of 120 centimeters or larger in men and 110 centimeters or larger in women, had twice the chance of dying during the period of the study.

The larger the waist, the bigger the risk of death in all BMI categories, normal weight, overweight and obese included, with the mention that normal weight women had the strongest association, e! Science News relates.

Previous research associated large waist circumference with insulin resistance, inflammation, abnormal cholesterol levels, type 2 diabetes and heart disease, as a large waist is linked with fat tissue in the viscera, around the organs in the abdomen, and this is believed to be more dangerous than fat tissue under the skin.

The authors explain that “The reason for the stronger association between waist circumference and mortality among women with low BMI in [the] study is unclear.

“Future detailed analysis of the relationship between waist circumference and visceral adipose tissue or measures of insulin resistance within categories of BMI could identify biological reasons for potential differences in the strength of the association between waist circumference and mortality.”

These results could affect the guidelines for obesity, as the current clinical guidelines from the National Institutes of Health are based on data from the 1990s and recommend that the waist circumference criterion for identifying high disease risk, should be used only for overweight or obese people.

The researchers add that “the NIH guidelines recommend weight loss goals for all patients in the obese category of BMI (30 or greater), but they do not specifically recommend weight loss goals for abdominally obese patients (waist circumference of 88 centimeters or larger in women or 102 centimeters or larger in men) who are in the normal or overweight BMI category unless they also have two or more cardiovascular risk factors or a desire to lose weight.”