I don't know whether this is of any help in the recent discussion about
obesity and arthritis. It is suggested for heart attack risk but may be
useful as additional data in other areas:

>>
Waist-to-hip ratio, not body mass index (BMI), is the best obesity measure
for assessing a person's risk of heart attack, concludes a global study
published in this week's issue of The Lancet.

If obesity is redefined using waist-to-hip ratio instead of BMI the
proportion of people at risk of heart attack increases by threefold,
calculate the authors.

[The abstract in the Lancet says this a little more accurately and
scientifically as:
"The population-attributable risks of myocardial infarction for increased
waist-to-hip ratio in the top two quintiles was 24.3% (95% CI 22.5-26.2)
compared with only 7.7% (6.0-10.0) for the top two quintiles of BMI." --Paul]

...

The waist-to-hip ratio is calculated by dividing the waist measure by the
hip measure. The cut off point for cardiovascular risk factors is less than
0.85 for women and 0.90 for men. A higher number denotes more risk.

[It would be nice to know how these "cut off" points were arrived at, but
without the full article it is impossible to know. --Paul]


The full article can be found on

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-11/mu-oms110305.php
<<

--
Sincerely, John de Rivaz: http://John.deRivaz.com for websites including
Cryonics Europe, Longevity Report, The Venturists, Porthtowan, Alec Harley
Reeves - inventor, Arthur Bowker - potter, de Rivaz genealogy, Nomad .. and
more


[John, it looks like you missed my reference to this Eureka article in the
MoreLife Upload announcement on 11/8
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/morelife/message/1121
However, it can't be said often enough that obesity brings with it *numerous*
health problems. With a BMI of 36, the 48 year old woman posted about is
definitely obese although the ratio of waist to hips would provide her, family,
friends and health care providers with more information regarding the
distribution of that excess fat.

While obesity has not yet been proven to *cause* rheumatoid arthritis, a
relationship with inflammatory cytokines is known. (A search in PubMed using
"(obesity OR adipocytes) AND cytokines" yields numerous hits, many of which are
directly applicable to the subject. Also, there are interesting studies
underway which are connected to those already done relating obesity and insulin
resistance (PMID: 16259218).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstra\
ct&list_uids=16259218&query_hl=3

The biggest message that hopefully is absorbed by MoreLife readers and those
they attempt to influence, is that one must take responsibility for one's health
in order to be truly healthy. Eating quantities of food beyond what one's body
requires to perform one's usual daily actitivies is foolish and dangerous. Not
eating sufficient foods that are nutritious is also foolish and dangerous. But
the only person who should suffer the consequences is the person hirself (this
is assuming s/he is either an adult or a child of sufficient reasoning capacity
to make judgments on food selections); it should not be borne by the population
as a whole being taxed to pay for the health care of such people. In fact as
with any other choices, all health care decisions, and the results thereof,
ought to be solely the responsibility of the individual involved. If such
self-responsibility were the general mode of operation by the majority of
people, I am convinced that the incidence of life-style related disorders would
be far less than they are now, given the enormous scientific, medical and
technological advances, particularly in the area of epidemiological/prevention
knowledge, made in the past 50 years. **Kitty]