The deadly apple shape

Tuesday August 10th, 2010

Apple-shaped people with large waists face a massively increased risk during their middle-aged years, researchers warned last night.

The new findings put some numbers on the risks faced by people who pile up fat and weight around their middles.

Researchers said the risks were faced by people of normal weight as well as those known to be overweight - especially among women.

A male waist bigger than 47 inches and a female waist bigger than 42 inches was linked to a doubled risk of death during the nine years of the research, according to the report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Researchers, led by Dr Eric Jacobs, based at the American Cancer Society, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, studied more than 100,000 people over the age of 50.

One key finding was the high risk among apple-shaped women of normal weight - and the researchers say the reason for this is "unclear".

They call on doctors to start paying attention to the risks faced by all those with fat around the waist - not just those known to be overweight.

Arch Intern Med. 2010;170[15]:1293-1301.

Tags: Diet & Food | North America | Women’s Health & Gynaecology

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