Dear Friends,
In my last post i discussed how to measure WHR. Now that we know how,we will proceed ahead with its importance. As said earlier, WHR for men should be below 0.9 and for women below 0.5. Any value above this points to overweight and obesity. As far as the shape of body is concerned,apple-shaped body is considered as Central Obesity which is more dangerous than pear-shaped body which is also obesity but with lesser bad effects.
Now we shall discuss what is apple-shaped body is and what harm it can cause. Apple-shaped/central obesity refers to accumulation of fats around the belly i.e. fats in this type of obesity surrounds the internal organs of the abdomen.The waist circumference of men should ideally be below 90 cm. and that of women should be below 80 cm. Anything above these values can lead to:-
1] Diabetes
2]Hypertension
3]CAD[coronary arterial disease]–a condition where the blood vessels supplying blood to heart develop blocks which can lead to heart attack
4]Obstructive Sleep Apnea —a condition wherein the sleep is disturbed due to difficulty in breathing leading to fatigue during daytime. Person having sleep apnea is found to snore a lot,disturbing sleep of other family members.
5]Osteoarthritis of Knee joint
6]Gastroesophageal reflux disease—increased acidity in the stomach leading to reflux of acid from the stomach into the food-pipe[esophagus] causing a condition often referred to as “heart-burn”.
7]Some cancers like that of uterus,breast[in women]and colon[large intestine]
These are some of the bad effects of central obesity which I will discuss in my future blogs. In my next blog, we will learn about body fat measurements and its importance.
If any of you feel that you may be having any features of obesity,kindly visit your family physician or my clinic for a thorough assessment and advice to overcome your problem.