Measuring your waist will tell you if you are on your way to diabetes

The simplest at-risk check for type 2 diabetes

Measuring your waist sounds like a very simple and perhaps innocent activity. But in fact it can tell you much more about your health than standing on the scales. After all, when you think about it, weighing yourself tells you very little. It tells you nothing about your body composition and nothing about what risks you have from, say, fat deposits in high risk areas (where you carry fat on your body is extremely important).

On the other hand, a waist measurement tells you important details about the location of fat and has proven correlations with future health risks. It reflects both health and nutritional status, and when associated with the shape of your body generalised health outcomes can be predicted. The reason is that under the skin of your tummy the intra-abdominal fat builds about around your organs, and this is what leads to the health problems (so-called metabolic fat). ​

Here are some facts about waist measurement:

• Risk is affected by where body fat is stored
• Abdominal fat is associated with an increased risk of not only cardio-metabolic disease, but also cancer, dementia, Alzheimer's diease and all-cause mortality;
• Most importantly, abdominal fat is associated with the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes - the most common form of diabetes;
• "Central obesity" around middle is the most dangerous form of body fat, and is a good predictor of the likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes.

It is important to note that a person can have a healthy BMI and have excess tummy fat.  For example in my own case, I had a healthy BMI and only slight excess abdominal fat and I still developed Type 2 diabetes.

The only way to tell exactly is to have a body scan, but a tape measure is far more convenient and far less expensive.

This makes it important to take your waist measurements, and keep a record. Here is the best method:

• Measure the half-way point between the lowest rib and the hip bone, the widest point of the stomach;
• Pull the tape measure against the skin, but not squeezed or too firmly;
• It s very important to breath out
• Ensure that the tape measure is snug but not tight;
• Take 3 measurements and then calculate the average.

Checking the table you can see that if your measurement is over 80cm for women, and 94cm for men, then you are at increased risk. 

Here are the MOST IMPORTANT two measurements

Finally, the most important ratio that has caught my attention (since I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes) is the ratio of your waist measurement to your height.

​If your height divided by your waist measurement is greater than 2 then you have an elevated risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Take this seriously, because there is no cure for diabetes, and if badly maanaged the consequences are dire.

With respect to body shape, it turns out that an Apple shape is associated with the highest risk to your health. The Apple shape has been found to be a predictor of high blood pressure, imbalanced blood fats, and Type 2 diabetes and cardio vascular disease. You can do very little about your body shape, except to manage your diet and exercise to minimise the accumulation of excess metabolic fat.

What can you do about it?

In a recent research report and article "How Exercise Reduces Belly Fat in Humans" researcher Anne-Sophie Wedell-Neergaard of the University of Copenhagen, says "We all know that exercise promotes better health, and now we also know that regular exercise training reduces abdominal fat mass and thereby potentially also the risk of developing cardio-metabolic diseases". ​

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