If you've got a belly above 40 inches for men and 34 inches for women, this is obesity [even if your weight measurements seem normal].
‘Scientists who looked at nutrition survey data concluded that people of normal weight with belly fat have a higher mortality risk than people who are obese. A pot belly can be a bad thing – even if you’re not considered overweight.’
For the study, a team led by Dr. Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., used data from a national survey to compare the risk of premature death among more than 15,000 adults. The mean follow-up time was 14 years.
In the study, 11 percent of men and 3 percent of women were normal weight but had an elevated waist-to-hip ratio. Surprisingly, they were at greater risk - for men, roughly twice the risk - than more pear-shaped overweight or obese people.
They concluded that normal-weight adults with mid-body obesity have the worst long-term survival compared with any group, regardless of BMI.
In fact, the researchers said, a person of normal weight with so-called "central obesity" had twice the mortality rate of people who are overweight or obese based on BMI only.
Source: Medindia
