India, Aug. 17 -- New research suggests that belly fat may be a better indicator of heart disease risk than body mass index (BMI) alone.
The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, looked at more than 260,000 people over an average of 20 years. Researchers examined their risk of heart problems, including heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, irregular heartbeat and death from heart disease.
Doctors commonly use BMI to determine whether someone is overweight or obese. However, in this study, researchers wanted to find out whether measuring waist size and the waist-to-hip ratio could give a clearer picture of heart disease risk.
The study found that some people who had a normal BMI still had a large waist or...