Lose that gut!

I have been talking about the dangers of abdominal obesity for the last 15 years. There is lots of new data emerging and it all states that waist circumference is independently associated with higher mortality. The most recent study is from the Archives of Internal Medicine. In this study, they looked at 48,500 men and 56,343 women age 50 and older. The participants were part of the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort. The study went from 1997 until 2006.
After adjusting for BMI and other risk factors, the authors found that waist circumference of least 47 inches in men and 43 inches in women was associated with about a two fold risk of dying when compared with men with waists 35 inches or women with waists 30 inches or less. In fact, each 4 inch increase in waist size was linked to about a 15 to 25 percent higher risk of death.
Bottom line: Abdominal obesity is a killer. There is tons of data to support it. This doesn’t mean you are doomed if you have it but that you need to change your lifestyle today! No fad diets and no crazy pills. Start by cutting down your calories, avoid sugars and saturated fats, exercise daily and find positive people to keep you stay motivated.

Reference:
Arch Intern Med. 2010;170(15):1293-1301