How to measure your middle

A bulging middle is a signal that you have lots of visceral fat, the thick, yellow fat deep in the abdomen that pumps fatty acids, appetite-stimulating hormones and inflammation-fuelling chemicals into the bloodstream.

In a recent study of 360,000 people from nine European countries, big waistlines predicted disaster even for people who weren’t overweight – increasing the risk of premature death by 79% for women and doubling it for men. A big middle is particularly hard on the heart, tripling the risk of fatal heart disease.

Even so, experts say, doctors frequently fail to measure the waists of normal-weight patients – which means they’re likely to be missing “ab fat” in these otherwise slender patients.

HOME CHECK - Bare your torso and stand in front of a mirror. Circle your waist with a tape measure, then move it down until the bottom of the tape rests at the top of your hip bones. Don’t hold your breath or cinch the tape too tight. Write down your number.

YOUR NEXT STEP - For men, risk for diabetes and heart disease begins to rise with a reading over 94cm, at more than 102cm it’s considered high risk. For women, 80cm is the danger threshold, and 88cm is high-risk terrain. People with Asian ethnicity are at risk with even lower waist measurements.

Best ways to shrink visceral fat? Exercise and a Mediterranean-style diet (plenty of fresh produce, grains, fish, and monounsaturated fat from olive oil and nuts). Because visceral fat is more metabolically active than fat on your hips or elsewhere, it usually comes off relatively fast as you start to lose weight.