"Fat and fit" men are likely to have a lower risk of heart disease and diabetes because they're relatively trim around the waist, a new study shows. The higher a man's cardiorespiratory fitness, the less fat he has in his abdominal cavity, Dr Jean-Pierre Despres of Hopital Laval Research Centre in Quebec and colleagues found.
The relationship held true regardless of body mass index (BMI), a ratio of weight to height typically used to gauge overweight and obesity.
"This is why it's so, so important for the doctor to measure waist circumference," said Despres, who told Reuters Health he is on a "crusade" to get family doctors to check their patients' waist size and triglyceride levels.
High waist circumference combined with high triglyceride levels signal a substantially increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, he explained.