There is a growing connection between breast cancer and obesity - especially abdominal and upper-body obesity. For example, almost half of all breast cancer cases occur in obese women. Also, cancerous breast tumors are notoriously hard to find in young women with more than 15-20 percent excess body fat. Exactly how severe overeight leads to breast cancers is not yet known. The link between body mass index and breast cancer is mostly statistical. We can see it, but we don't understand exactly why it exists.
Fat distribution, not fat amount is a leading predictor of your future health. Carrying your weight around your waist could put you at a higher risk of heart disease and diabetes. Losing even 2 inches in your waist area could reduce the risk dramatically.
Mild obesity involving a body mass index (BMI) of 30+, is less dangerous to health than morbid obesity (BMI 40+) or malignant obesity (BMI 50+). For example, someone who is 40 percent overweight is twice as likely to die prematurely as an average-weight person. This effect is seen after 10 to 30 years of being obese.
Abdominal obesity is one of the core symptoms of cardiovascular disease and insulin resistance syndrome. In women, central obesity is signalled by a waist circumference of about 35+ inches, while in men the danger waist measurement is 40+ inches. Alternatively, check your waist-hip ratio. Women with a waist-to-hip ratio of more than 0.8 or men with waist-to-hip ratios of more than 1.0 are "apples" and are at increased health risk due to their fat distribution.
2006-04-26 @ 19:11