Size and Shape Matter
In our on-going series to help you with your New Year's resolutions, we're
talking about weight management. We asked bariatric medicine specialist Dr.
Louis Arronne what's new in the field of weight management.
"The weight of the average person in the US is definitely increasing
slowly and steadily over time. We're starting to see things in children that
we've never seen before, like the adult type 2 diabetes, only in 12 and 14 year
old kids! All of this is due to increased body weight."
Dr. Arronne also cautions that body fat is not the only
important issue: how and where that body fat is distributed may be even more
important, especially for women.
For women who are overweight having an apple shape, or weight on your
upper abdomen present much greater risk from any degree of overweight. So,
in other words, two women, who are about the same amount overweight, the one with the fat on the
abdomen is at greater risk. In general, if your waist is greater than 35 inches,
that means you're at greater risk from being overweight".
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Created: 1/9/2001  - Donnica Moore, M.D.