Obesity based on BMI is crucial, says study.
By Raif Karerat
A new study, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, reports that thin people who carry fat around their midsection — known as central obesity — are at greater risk for health problems than people who are overweight or obese based on body mass index (BMI).
“This idea that central obesity might be related to health issues is not new. It’s been proposed for a number of years,” lead study author Dr. Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, a cardiovascular specialist at the Mayo Clinic, told CBS News. “However, for all that time, it has been the assumption that if somebody has central obesity, the person is very likely obese. But in this study, we actually proved that a person can be centrally obese and have normal BMI and that person is at a greater risk for serious health problems.”
Lopez-Jiminez and his team analyzed data from over 15,000 U.S. adults ages 18 to 90 who participated in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. After an average follow-up of 14 years, just over 3,200 deaths occurred., according to CBS News.
The data showed that normal-weight people with fat around the midsection were twice as likely to die compared people who were overweight or obese according to BMI.
Experts say visceral fat is more harmful than the fat beneath the skin — clinically referred to as subcutaneous fat — and can lead to insulin resistance, which can be a precursor to type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and a slew of chronic diseases.
Central obesity is associated with an increased accumulation of visceral fat, which is stored around a number of internal organs, such as the liver, pancreas and intestines.
Lopez-Jimenez warned that the study does not give license to people with central obesity to gain more weight in hopes redistributing fat.
“The problem is that we don’t know how fat is going to accumulate,” he said. “Chances are if somebody is centrally obese, if that person gains more fat, it will very likely just go to the belly area because whatever the mechanisms are, that person seems to be at risk for central obesity.”