Hip to Waist Ratio

I'm reading this morning how this ratio is a better predictor of heart attacks than BMI. And I feel dumb because I have never heard of this. Have you?

Fri. Nov 4, 8:33am

You've probably heard of it by the terminology of apples and pears. People who tend to have "apple" shapes (tend to gain weight at waist and abdomen) have higher risk of heart disease than people who have "pear" shapes (tend to gain weight at hips and thighs).

Friday, November 4, 2005, 8:54 AM

There's been a bunch of stuff in print on this for years, but somehow it doesn't grab as much attention as some other measures like BMI. A few items I've seen: one in a real medical journal article where the author said that any male with waist/hip ratio over .85 should be on a restricted calorie diet; one in some general publication (not medical) suggesting .75 for women and .85 for men as the cutoff point between healthy/unhealthy; and while we're at it, one saying that .67-.72 was considered "most attractive" for women (I don't remember whether the people polled were men, women or both).
This is my biggest problem area (1.02) so I tend to pay more attention to whatever I see that mentions it.

Sunday, November 6, 2005, 7:35 PM

Forgot to mention above, some life insurance questionnaires will ask if your waist is over 40 (male) / 35 (female) and it may affect your rate. It's based on the same line of thought.

Sunday, November 6, 2005, 7:38 PM

how?

this might be a dumb question, but how do you measure you're ratio?

Monday, November 7, 2005, 10:07 AM

typo

meant your ratio, not "you're ratio." apologies to the militant grammar peertrainers out there; it's early.

Monday, November 7, 2005, 10:08 AM

Measure your waist and hips, then divide waist measurement by hip measurement. The units (inches or centimeters) don't matter, you'll come up with the same number either way.

Monday, November 7, 2005, 11:16 AM

"There are no dumb questions". Actually there's something of a religious war about precisely how to take waist and hip measurements. Once you get them, though, divide the waist number by the hip number to get the ratio.
As for exactly where to measure waist and hips, I've most often heard: measure waist at the navel, hips at the place where you feel the hip joint (the top of the thigh bone, really). Usually they say measure in a "normal standing position", and for sure you must do it without any clothing in those areas.
I've also seen suggestions to measure the "natural waist" which is the smallest point of the natural curve, usually about 2-3" above the navel, and to measure hips at the largest point anywhere near the actual hip joint. And one place said to take the measurement lying down. I think all of these variations tend to give you more hips and less waist, but not a huge difference.

Monday, November 7, 2005, 11:27 AM

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