It seems to be unfortunate, but inevitable, for
many of us that as we get older our weight increases. Somehow it matters little
how much we stress over our BMI, eat healthy (or try), and take regular
exercise (or try), our shape never gets back to how we fondly remember it. We
have changed from that lithe, spritely figure in those now fading photographs
to taking on a more fruity appearance – more apple or pear shaped.
Unfortunately the extra weight puts us at risk for
a variety of problems known as metabolic syndrome, which is shorthand for a
whole lot of things going wrong. Now Kang et
al took a group of 565 76-year old Koreans and gave them dual energy X-ray
absorptiometry scans (1). These scans are normally used for bone density
measurements, but can also yield fat densities around the body.
After a great deal of data analysis the biggest
risk factor for metabolic syndrome wasn’t the participants BMI values. The
clear troublemaker turned out to be the amount of android fat.
Android fat wasn’t something that I had been
focusing on in my workout/eating plan although I clearly should have. I have been
stuck with BMI and will now have to become more sophisticated. The android fat
is the fat that makes us look “apple shaped” and, of course, means that our waist
measurements are more important than our BMI.
My smartphone app is stuck with BMI. It’s time that
our Android phones had an app that logs our waist measurement as a guide to our
Android fat level and gives us advice on diet.
