Waist and hip measures can predict risk to diabetes, heart disease

Conscious of your waist and hip sizes? Well, there are some big reasons why you should.

Body shape has been one of society's measures of beauty. People say that a person is sexy when he or she has nice body curves. But aside from the aesthetic value of body shapes, it could also determine your risk to lifestyle diseases like diabetes and heart diseases.

Waist and hip measurements are now recommended to health professionals as an assessment tool for android obesity or "apple-shaped" obesity. Android obesity is the accumulation of body fat around the abdomen. The deposit of fats within and around the organs in the abdominal area makes android obesity a strong risk factor to several lifestyle-related diseases. Android obesity has been strongly linked with diseases such as diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and myocardial infarction (MI) or heart attack.

On the global scene, over one billion people are overweight and more than 300 million are clinically obese. In the Philippines, the 2003 National Nutrition and Health Survey (NNHeS) showed that 18 out of 100 females (18.3 percent) and 3 out of 100 (3.1 percent) males are considered to be android obese based on waist circumference (WC) equal or greater than 40 inches in males and 35 inches in females. On the other hand, 55 out of 100 (54.8 percent) females and 12 out of 100 (12.1 percent) males are obese based on waist-hip ratio (WHR) equal or above 1.0 for males and 0.85 for females. The NNHeS was conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (FNRI-DOST) in collaboration with the Department of Health (DOH) and 14 medical specialty societies.

During the 4th Asian Congress of Dietetics last April 23-26, 2006, Dr. Rodolfo F. Florentino, Chairman-President of the Nutrition Foundation of the Philippines (NFP) and Scientific Director of the International Life Sciences Institute - Southeast Asia (ILSI-SEA), presented some studies on the relationships of body mass index (BMI), WC and WHR on the prediction of obesity-related co-morbidities such as diabetes, acute myocardial infarction, and abnormalities of the metabolic syndrome. Dr. Florentino said that WC can predict risk of diabetes and metabolic syndrome, based on the prospective study by Chan and colleagues (2003) and the Nutrition and Health Evaluation Survey (NHANES) by Jansen's group (2004), respectively.

Furthermore, Dr. Florentino also presented the study by Cameron's team (2003), which showed that WHR has the strongest correlation with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. Likewise, the Interheart Study showed that WHR is the strongest predictor of risk to acute myocardial infarction (MI) or heart attack.

The accumulation of excessive adipose tissue contributes to the complex mechanism of the elevation of glucose, insulin, cortisol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), and triglyceride levels. This later on affects metabolic and cardiac functions that may lead to diabetes, hypertension, heart attack and other related diseases.

Other health implications of obesity include increased all-cause mortality, arthritis, osteoarthritis, gout, decreased pulmonary function, sleep apnea, hypoxemia (lack of oxygen), hypercapnia (fast, shallow breathing), breast, cervical and ovarian cancer among women, and colorectal or prostate cancer among men.

How could we watch our waist and hip measures? The new recommended cut-offs by the Interheart Study are a WC of greater than or equal to 80 centimeters (about 31 inches) for females and greater than or equal to 90 centimeters (about 35 inches) for males are considered obese. On the other hand, a WHR greater than or equal to 1.0 (>1.0) for males and greater than or equal to 0.85 (>¬0.85) for females is indicative of android obesity. WHR is determined by dividing waist circumference (in centimeters) over hip circumference (in centimeters). In simpler terms, the waist-hip ratio's principle is that the larger the hips, the lesser the risk to cardiovascular and other related diseases.

It is important to watch our weight and not let our waist and hip measures reach sizes that become risk factor of diseases. Message No. 10 of the Nutritional Guidelines for Filipinos developed by the Technical Working Group led by the FNRI-DOST says "for a healthy lifestyle and good nutrition, exercise regularly, do not smoke and avoid alcoholic beverages."

Let us be conscious of our waist and hips then… not just to be sexy but more importantly to be healthy!

For more information on food and nutrition, you may write, call or visit: Dr. Mario V. Capanzana, Director, Food and Nutrition Research Institute, Department of Science and Technology, General Santos Avenue, Bicutan, Taguig City; Telephone/Fax Nos.: 837-2934, 837-3164, trunklines: 837-2071 locals 2296 and 2284; e-mail: mvc @fnri.dost.gov.ph, mar_v_c @ yahoo.com.ph; FNRI-DOST website: http//www.fnri.dost.gov.ph

Source:

FNRI-DOST S&T MEDIA RELEASE
Charina A. Javier