New research from a collaboration between an American and two Australian universities has shown that measuring waist circumference in children/teens is better than using Body Mass Index (BMI) as a predictor for future risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Those who were found to have a waist circumference in the top 25% for their age and sex were five to six times more likely than those in the bottom 25% to develop metabolic syndrome by early adulthood. 

Lead author, Michael Schmidt, acknowledged that introducing waist circumference measurements in schools could be controversial or cause stigmatisation however, he also rightly pointed out that early identification of risk, enables more opportunity for action to be taken, “I think parents would want to know if their child was five to six times more likely to have early cardio-metabolic health problems.”

These results comes as no great surprise - the waist measurement gives an indication of visceral fat, which is known to be closely associated with metabolic syndrome and disease risk.  The ‘waist to hip’ ratio is already well-recognised as an indicator of cardio/metabolic risk in adults and is one of the measurements we use when assessing progress with our In2shape clients.  BMI, although it is the primary measurement used to discuss obesity, is flawed - it does not destinguish between weight which may be stored as fat or muscle.   A fit, muscular athlete can have a similar BMI to someone who is clinically obese, simply because they carry a lot of muscle tissue, which is dense and therefore much heavier than fat tissue.

Regardless of age, there is so much which can be done through diet and lifestyle to improve body composition and reduce the risk of these conditions.  Any new research which may help to improve health screening and identify risk early on is a good thing.  It is currently estimated that 2.6 million people in the UK are diagnosed with diabetes and a further half a million people have diabetes but are not yet diagnosed or aware of it.

M D Schmidt, T Dwyer, C G Magnussen and A J Venn, International Journal of Obesity, September 2010
This study used data collected from 2,188 participants, first surveyed between age 7 and 15.  They were then followed up 20 years later.