WTH is WHtR?

Move over, BMI, there’s a new measurement in town.

A better predictor than BMI (that’s body-mass index, of course) of certain health risks  is WtHR aka waist-to-height ratio. The findings, which are being presented at the 19th European Congress for Obesity,  show that WtHR is better at detecting risk factors for conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, abnormal body fat levels and metabolic syndrome.

This suggests WtHR could be used as a screening tool for determining health risks, and the research shows that:

Your waist circumference should be less than half your height.

(Did that ratio make you pause? I know my gut reaction was to question it —  but with our super-size-me lifestyles the world over, it’s not uncommon for one’s waist circumference to be greater than half one’s height).

Just another handy health tool your standard tape measure can be used for.

Although I kinda prefer a tape like the one above.

(Measuring tape mantra print, Modern Girl Blitz)

Leave a Comment May 15, 2012

A reason to run regularly

Three months of gluttony during my travels (and OK, while at home, too) paired with a significant downturn in the kilometres I’ve run (although I did fit in the Nike Women’s Half-Marathon in San Francisco)…and I seriously need to get back on track. And this study is just the push I need:

In a study looking at the effect of diet and body mass index, for the most active group of runners in the study (those that ran 8 km per day or more) the effect of diet on BMI and waist circumference were reduced by 50 percent or more. In other words, peeps who run more are less susceptible to the ill effects of a heavier, low-on-fruits-and-veg diet.

(the above, in case you were wondering, is the cheesy french toast with bacon at School Bakery and Cafe in Toronto.)

Leave a Comment November 10, 2011