Your Waist Size Predicts your Health

According to the CDC, the U.S. Center for Disease Control, heart disease is by far the No. 1 cause of death in the United States and much of the world. The CDC says that 631,636 people died of heart disease in 2006. Half of the deaths occurred in women. Surprisingly, Even though smoking-related heart disease remains the greatest cause of death, obesity-related heart disease is catching up. How is your waist size and body shape related to heart disease?
According to researchers, the best tool for predicting your risk of heart disease may be a tape measurer.

This finding is based on a studies conducted by a host of researchers, including Emily Levitan, ScD, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Hans Wahrenberg, MD, and colleagues at Sweden's Karolinska Institute, Dr. Khawaja Ammar of the Olmsted Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota, and Dr. Xavier Jouven of the French research unit INSERM in Villejuif, France.
"Waist circumference is a vital sign," says Dr. Robert Eckel, a heart expert at the University of Colorado and president-elect of the American Heart Association. In fact, increased waist size is a predictor of heart failure even when measurements of body mass index (BMI) fall within the normal range.
These studies also found that half of all fatal heart disease cases and a quarter of all non-fatal cases are linked to being overweight and having a high Body Mass Index (BMI - the ratio of your weight in kilograms divided by the square of your height in meters) or having a large waist. With 66 percent of all adults in the United States being overweight or obese, this information is crucial to the well being of the average American.
Who in the population is at greater risk?
Apparently, an apple shape is of more concern than a pear shape. That is, the so-called “pot bellied” person is at greater risk than a pear-shaped individual, who carries more weight in the hips. Over weight people are defined as having a BMI of between 25 and 30 and obese people of 30 or more.
According to the study, you are at risk of serious health problems, including heart disease, if you are overweight. You are more at risk, if you are obese, and at greatest risk, if you are overweight or obese and your waist size is close to or above the following guidelines for your gender and ethnicity:
If your Ethnicity is Eastern Mediterranean, European/Caucasian, Middle Eastern or Sub-Saharan African, your Critical Waist Size (CWS) for women is 35 in. or 88 cm. For men, your CWS is 40 in. or 102 cm. If your Ethnicity is South Asian, Malaysian, Asian, Chinese, Japanese, or South and Central American, your CWS for women is 32 in. or 80 cm. For men your CWS is 35 in. or 90 cm. These measurements may be affected by bone density and do not apply to pregnant or nursing women as well as people under the age of 18 or over the age of 65.

Come to Help For Health to get an accurate measurement of your BMI and your CWS. We have a variety of resources to help you reduce and control your weight and waistline including, lasers that quickly and painlessly sculpture your waist, supplements that prevent your body from assimilating the fat that you eat, machines that gently flush the fat-retaining toxins from your colon and detox programs that help you eliminate weight, heavy metals and other pollutants from your body.