The average woman’s waist measures 33.5 inches, which is 2 inches greater than the recommended size. Even this 2 inches of excess fat places women in the “high health risk” category.
Abdominal fat typically gives women an “apple” shape, which has been linked to infertility as a result of disruption of ovarian function.
In a survey of 54,000 people, more than half of women had an unhealthy body mass index (BMI) and more than 16% were moderately or morbidly obese.
Experts have found that although being overweight is a predictive factor for breast cancer, Type II diabetes, and heart disease, it’s actually the distribution of the weight that is more telling of health status.
In fact, abdominal fat is a better indicator of obesity than BMI alone.
Check out the original article for more findings from the Nuffield Health MOT program.
