Measure the Waist

Filed in archive Weight on April 10, 2007

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the US and in Canada. Weight is spiraling out of control and causing all sorts of health problems from diabetes to heart disease. Obesity Canada has come up with a new 120-page report, Canadian Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Management and Prevention of Obesity in Adults and Children.

According to the report, a person's weight shouldn't be the only criteria for judging obesity:

"We need to talk about the waist circumference measurement as a new 'vital sign,"' said Dr. David Lau, president of Obesity Canada, a non-profit organization dedicated to dramatically reducing the number of overweight and obese Canadians.

The Health Check Blog from the Orlando Sentinel warns:

Excess weight, as measured by BMI, is not the only risk to your health. So is the location of fat on your body. If you carry fat mainly around your waist, you are more likely to develop health problems than if you carry fat mainly in your hips and thighs. This is true even if your BMI falls within the normal range.