Your waist-to-height ratio is the single number most likely to predict your metabolic future

A 2010 meta-analysis of 31 studies by Margaret Ashwell and colleagues found that waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) outperformed BMI in predicting cardiometabolic risk factors including hypertension, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidaemia, and coronary heart disease in both men and women, across multiple ethnic populations. Ashwell's boundary — keep your waist to less than half your height — has been validated as a clinically meaningful threshold.

Reducing Your WHtR

• Visceral fat responds specifically to aerobic exercise and caloric deficit
• Eliminating added sugar and refined carbohydrates — primary drivers of de novo hepatic and visceral lipogenesis
• Adequate sleep — even two nights of partial sleep deprivation measurably increases visceral fat deposition
• Alcohol reduction — alcohol calories are preferentially stored as visceral fat through hepatic metabolism