One of the best articles I read on health was the priorities article by Austin and Tom as it really simplified what is needed for a long healthy life. In the article it mentioned that a waistline for a male should be no longer than 37 inches.
Now I have just read the article on how to measure your waistline by Jordan from Feb 2024 where it mentioned at the end that BM follow American Academy of Clinical Endocrinology’s Obesity Guidelines of 40 inches
Here in the UK our NHS (National Health Service) recommends a waistline shorter than half your height, while I read on an article NHS Lancashire that stated the 37 inch mark for Males.
What are Barbell Medicines current recommendations? I ask as I trust your organisations expertise in this and I am like the most of the general public when it comes to getting confused by many things health. I figure surfing the internet regarding this is not worth the time and books I have on health are out of date
I think either are fine for screening, with the lower cut point being more sensitive and the higher cut point being more specific. If forced to make a recommendation, I would go with being lower than anything mentioned here or in obesity screening guidelines for a target waist.
I would favor a waist of < 34-35" for men and < 30" for women. Individuals of Asian descent should be 1-2" lower than that, pending bony structure. These would probably make terrible screening guidelines, but are decent targets IMO.
Thanks Jordan. Why would they make terrible screening guidelines out of interest? Is it because it’s generally hard for most people to get their waistline to those measurements?
A good screening test would identify all individuals that have a certain condition, without creating too many false positives. The lower the waist circumference cut-off, the more false positives we’re going to create. I think the current screening guidelines using BMI and ethnic-specific cut-offs are fine. If people want to use the more aggressive numbers (37/34), that’s fine with me.
I am already sorted regarding the waist line recommendations any follow up question are just for interest. With that being said false positives? Could you elaborate on the meaning of those if possible
In this case, false positives would be people identified by the test (waist circumference) that do not have excess adiposity.
Perhaps a more practical example of false negatives and positives would be instructive.
BMI is often said to a bad test under the assumption it overdiagnoses obesity in people who do not have it, i.e. it creates too many false positives.
The reality is just the opposite however, as BMI’s main issue is that it underdiagnoses obesity because it doesn’t identify people who are carrying too much body fat, but have a BMI under 30. Too many false negatives in this case.
@peter.byrne If you haven’t already, this podcast will be a great place to learn or refresh your knowledge on the details around effective testing guidelines and the factors involved. Specifically, head over to the discussion at around the 22 minute mark: