Excess Belly Fat Tied to Early Death

Early death from any cause is more likely if you carry more fat around your middle, even if you don't have much body fat overall, reports a new study. The findings of the study are published in the journal The BMJ.// In //contrast, larger hips and thighs are linked to a lower risk of early death, the meta-analysis also found.

These findings support past research suggesting that belly fat is particularly dangerous and a better indicator of health compared to weight or body mass index.

For the analysis, researchers from institutions in Iran and Canada evaluated 72 studies that included more than 2.5 million volunteers around the world who were tracked between three and 24 years.

All the studies included reported at least three measures of central fatness, like waist-to-hip ratio, waist circumference, and a body shape metric. Many also included other body size metrics, such as hip and thigh circumference.

The researchers found that most measures of belly fat were linked to a higher risk of early death from any cause, called all-cause mortality. For example, each four-inch increase in waist circumference was associated with an 11 percent higher risk of all-cause mortality.

Larger hip and thigh circumferences, however, appeared to have a protective effect.

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Researchers suggest that measures of central adiposity could be used as a supplementary method, in combination with body mass index, to determine the premature death risk. Yet, further studies are required to assess the degree and the shape of the associations for these measures in more detail.

Source-Medindia