What is the waist-to-hip ratio?

What your waist-to-hip ratio tells you

Fat around the waist is more closely linked with heart disease and other weight-related problems than fat on the hips.

Two women with the same weight can carry very different risks depending on where the fat sits.

What this ratio is:

• It adds something your weight and BMI can't tell you.
• It's a screening sign, not a diagnosis.

What moves your waist-to-hip ratio

You can't choose where you lose fat from, but overall fat loss usually trims the waist.

Habits that help:

• Build meals around vegetables, dal, protein and whole grains.
• Cut back on sugary drinks, mithai and fried namkeen.
• Move every day.
• Add strength exercise, which helps you keep muscle while you lose fat.

To measure:

• Stand relaxed.
• Measure your waist midway between the bottom of your ribs and the top of your hips (just above the belly button) after breathing out naturally.
• Measure your hips at their widest point, in the same unit.
• Divide the first by the second.

Is waist-to-hip ratio on a report?

It isn't a blood test, but some check-up summaries include it.

The World Health Organization (2008) treats these as a sign of fat stored around the middle:

• 0.85 or more for women
• 0.90 or more for men

These are the same cut-offs the waist-to-hip ratio calculator on this site uses. Other guidelines use slightly different numbers.