DR MICHAEL MOSLEY: Can you take the string test? A simple and brilliant way to check your fat



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To start the ropes test, you need to cut a piece of string as high as you are.

To start the ropes test, you need to cut a piece of string as high as you are.

The warning that overweight is bad for health is not news, but the message was defeated last week by another large study based on data collected from more than 2.8 million patients British.

The researchers started this study in 2000 and then looked at what happened to these patients over a period of ten years. To make comparisons, they rank patients in weight categories based on their body mass index, or BMI.

This is a height / weight ratio that you can easily find using one of the many online calculators: the one on nhs.uk is a good first port of call. It turned out that at the beginning of the study, very obese people – with a BMI of 40 or higher – were 22 times more likely to develop sleep apnea, when you stop breathing for short periods during the night, 12 times more likely to develop sleep apnea. develop type 2 diabetes, and four times more likely to develop heart failure than those who have maintained a healthy weight.

However, even though their body mass index (BMI) indicated that they were slightly overweight at the beginning of the study, they were still twice as likely to develop type 2 diabetes and sleep problems over the next few years. years.

After cutting the string (above), you must fold it in half and wrap it around your middle.

After cutting the string (above), you must fold it in half and wrap it around your middle.

BMI? it is rather the BALONEY MASS INDEX

It was a big and painstaking study that produced scary statistics, but even then, it may have underestimated the risks. Like many studies of this type, it relies on BMI – which is not a great way to estimate the amount of fat you carry.

You must check the end of the chain. If you have trouble doing this, it could mean that you are carrying too much weight.

You must check the end of the chain. If you have trouble doing this, it could mean that you are carrying too much weight.

You can, for example, be muscular with a high BMI. The muscle weighs a lot, weighs down the people, which distorts the calculation. Fat weighs less. And for that reason, you can be pretty light, with a low BMI, while having far too much body fat, especially intestinal fat.

A more accurate way to measure body fat is to use a DEXA scanner, similar to an X-ray, that can be done in some hospitals. This gives you a very accurate measure of your body fat and its location.

In a study conducted in the United States, they examined the results of 1,234 patients whose BMI had been measured and who had also undergone a DEXA scan. Men were considered obese if DEXA revealed that they had a body fat of 25% or more. In other words, if a quarter of their body consisted of fat. In women, because they naturally carry more fat, having a body fat score greater than 30% was considered obese.

Based on the BMI, only 20% of patients in this study were considered obese. Using DEXA, it turned out to be an amazing rate of 56%.

How YOU can do the test – in just two minutes!

Start by cutting a piece of string to make it as big as you are. Then, fold this piece of string in half and try to wrap it around your middle.

See if you can make ends meet. If you have trouble doing this, it suggests that you are carrying too much weight around your waist and that, as a result, your visceral fat level is probably too high.

Alternatively, you can get a tape measure and measure your size.

Measure around your belly button. Do not rely on the size of your pants.

Ideally, your height should be less than half your size. So if you measure 6 feet (72 inches), your height should be less than 36 inches.

Dr. Eric Braverman, of the New York Presbyterian Hospital, who led the study, describes the BMI as "the unbalanced mass index."

He is worried that he lacks a lot of what he calls normal weight obesity: people who have a low BMI but relatively little muscle and a high percentage of body fat.

These patients are at high risk of diabetes and heart disease, but as he points out, "because they do not think they are obese, but they are" a bit soft, "they are not doing anything about it.

Could you be fat on the inside?

One of the reasons that BMI underestimates the worsening of the problems is that the more we gain weight, the more fat we take, the more unhealthy place to keep it.

A large size suggests that you have too much visceral fat. Unlike subcutaneous fat, which accumulates under the skin, visceral fat accumulates in the abdominal cavity.

Once there, it infiltrates your heart, your liver and other organs. Since visceral fat is found inside the body rather than on the visible surface, people who own a lot may look relatively thin, but with a little belly.

This is called TOFI: thin from the outside, fat inside.

To reliably determine the amount of visceral fat you carry, you need to pass a DEXA or MRI scanner, which is not usually available on the NHS.

Or you can do the string test, as demonstrated by me and described in the box above. A number of studies have shown that waist circumference is a better predictor of future health risks than BMI, especially in women.

Sanne Peters, a researcher at the George Institute for Global Health at Oxford University, who conducted one of these studies, says: "BMI is a measure of general obesity, but it does not establish of distinction between fat around the hips and waist.

"Compared to hip fat, waist fat is more metabolically active, is closely related to insulin resistance, and appears to be more associated with heart disease risk. 39, stroke and diabetes. "

The accumulation of visceral fat is normally the result of a number of factors, including eating too much sugary and starchy foods, drinking too much alcohol (especially beer), do not do enough exercise, feel stressed and sleep well, and of course, genetics.

Some people, when they gain weight, put it immediately around the belly. I am one. The good news is that studies have shown that visceral fat responds well to dieting and exercise.

Any decent diet and exercise program will contribute to this, but a fast weight loss diet with intermittent fasting and fast exercise – high intensity interval training or HIIT – of the type I recommend in my latest book, The Fast 800 seems to be particularly effective.

We have now launched an online version of the diet and the people who have done so far have lost an average of 13.2 lbs (just under a stone) in six weeks and about 4 inches in size .

Together, they lost more than ten tons.

More information is available on thefast800.com.

What is obesity? AND WHAT ARE THE RISKS TO HEALTH?

Obesity is defined as an adult with a BMI of 30 or more.

The BMI of a healthy person – calculated by dividing weight in kg by height in meters and height response – is between 18.5 and 24.9.

In children, obesity is defined as the 95th percentile.

Percentiles compare youth to others of the same age.

For example, if a three-month-old child is in the 40th percentile of weight, that means that 40% of three-month-olds weigh the same or less than that baby.

About 58% of women and 68% of British men are overweight or obese.

The situation costs the NHS about £ 6.1 billion, on a budget of around £ 124.7 billion each year.

This is due to obesity which increases the risk of developing a number of life-threatening conditions.

These conditions include type 2 diabetes, which can cause kidney disease, blindness and even limb amputations.

Research suggests that at least one in six hospital beds in the UK is used by a diabetic patient.

Obesity also increases the risk of heart disease, which kills 315,000 people each year in the UK, making it the leading cause of death.

Wearing dangerous amounts of weight has also been associated with 12 different cancers.

This includes breasts, which affect one in eight women at some point in their lives.

According to research, in children, 70% of obese children have high blood pressure or high cholesterol, which puts them at risk for heart disease.

Obese children are also much more likely to become obese adults.

And if children are overweight, their obesity in adulthood is often more serious.

In the UK, up to one in five children who start going to school is overweight or obese, this figure rising to one in three at the age of 10.

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