6 Things to Learn About Head Lice From Heidi Klum’s Experience

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Not even supermodel Heidi Klum can avoid some of the not-so-pleasant ramifications of having four kiddos under the age of 12. Case in point: Getting head lice.

During a sit-down with Ellen DeGeneres recently, the Project Runway host, 42, addressed a recent lice infestation in her home that occurred after the school nurse discovered one of the little parasites in her daughter’s hair. She summed the experience up in one word: “horrible.” (“That’s why I didn’t hug her!” DeGeneres then cracked to the audience.)

Klum says this was the second time her family’s had an issue with the pesky critters—but that’s no big surprise. An estimated six to 12 million infestations occur every year in the United States among children ages 3 to 11, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Plus, new research has revealed that lice in at least 25 states now have genetic mutations that make them resistant to over-the-counter treatments.

Given the growing problem, we thought now’s as good of a time as any to share some myths and facts about head lice.

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Myth: They’re basically invisible

Klum mentioned how easy the bugs are to miss thanks to their tiny size. While she’s right on the money that lice are indeed difficult-to-spot insects, you can still often find them with the naked eye. A fully grown adult louse is about the size of a sesame seed.

If you do feel the sensation of itchiness or crawling on your scalp (that’s where head lice tend to reside, though, in rare severe cases, they can live on the eyebrows or eyelashes), the CDC also recommends using a fine-toothed comb or magnifying glass to look for any live bugs.

If you or your doctor don’t see any crawling lice, finding the eggs (called nits) firmly cemented close to the base of the hair shafts typically suggests that you’ve got them and should be treated, the CDC states.

Fact: Schools can be a hotbed for lice

When Degeneres asked Klum how she got them, she replied without skipping a beat, “Kids! They get them at school!” And this time, she’s totally right. Children are in fact more inclined to get lice at school, camps, sports outings and sleepovers where more head-to-head contact occurs, allowing the lice to spread, according to the CDC.

Fact: You’re less likely to get head lice from adults

Don’t fear a neighborhood cocktail party—or a talk show visit—just because there’s a lice infestation in your little ones’ school. Though DeGeneres jokingly questioned why Klum wouldn’t just opt out of her appearance and stay home instead, there’s less of a chance you’ll catch them from your mom friends or co-workers.

Why? “Presumably because adults simply don’t engage in the same level of head-to-head contact,” says Seth Orlow, MD, who specializes in pediatric dermatology at the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City.

But it was smart for the duo to skip the big hug for risk of touching scalps. Direct person-to-person contact is key (adults, too!), he explains, because lice crawl from scalp to scalp. However, don’t be fooled by anyone who says they can leap. “They can sure crawl fast, but they can’t jump,” he adds. (Another fun fact: Your pets can’t get head lice.)

RELATED: Do Selfies Really Spread Head Lice?

Myth: A head lice infestation is a sign of “dirtiness”

Actually, head lice are not associated with poor hygiene at all. “They are equal opportunity parasites,” Dr. Orlow says. Clean or dirty hair, “all they want is some warm blood and a place to mate and lay their eggs,” he adds. (Shudder.)

Myth: Kids with lice can’t go to school

Contrary to popular belief, quarantining yourself isn’t really necessary. In fact, new guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics in April say that children found to have head lice can finish the school day, be treated and then return to school the next day.

There are a few reasons why. For one, a nit that is more than a quarter-inch from the hair shaft likely won’t hatch into a louse, or it may just be an egg shell casing. Also, nits that are strongly glued to the hair shafts also unlikely to successfully transfer to someone else.

Says Dr. Orlow, “The point is not to throw [kids] out of school but rather to have them get treated at home that evening.”

RELATED: Keep Lice Off Your Child’s Head

Myth: You need to take drastic measures to get rid of them

Even with the growing resistance to over-the-counter treatments, you don’t need to panic—or spend a ton of money—to rid your kids (and yourself) of these pests.

“There are these fairies that come to the house and brush you for hours and get all these lice out of your hair,” Klum told Degeneres. These “lice fairies” are a real thing; there are professional picker businesses—such as the Lice Lady in Westchester, N.Y. and Hair Fairies, based in New York City—who use special products and tools to remove lice and nits from the head. But they’re really not necessary.

“Some people who have the money and time can hire someone to pick every louse and nit off their child’s head,” Dr. Orlow says. “But when it comes to effectiveness, I’ll vote for one of several available prescription pediculicides,” aka pesticides for lice that are safe for use on kids.

That said, you should also be skeptical of home remedies like attempting to drown lice in mayonaise or olive oil. There’s no scientific evidence that those work. It’s “messy for sure; effective—not so much,” Dr. Orlow says.

The bottom line with head lice: Don’t freak out if you or your children get it. Yes, they’re gross and itchy, but they are not harmful to your health. “Keep it in perspective,” Dr. Orlow concludes. “Yes, it’s an annoyance, and one we can cure.”

RELATED: 20 Ways to Kill Head Lice

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High-Risk Lung Cancer Patients May Benefit From Surgery

TUESDAY, Nov. 10, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Surgery to remove part of the lung can be a safe and effective treatment option for people with early stage lung cancer, even those traditionally considered “high-risk,” a new study finds.

Previous research had suggested that high-risk patients are more likely to have complications or to die after lung surgery. People aged 60 and older, long-term smokers, and people who have other health problems are considered high-risk for partial lung removal surgery, the researchers said.

One in five patients with early stage non-small-cell lung cancer is deemed high-risk or ineligible for lung surgery, according to the study, which was published online Nov. 10 in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

But the new findings show these patients shouldn’t be denied surgery, because they may benefit from it, study leader Dr. Manu Sancheti, from Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, said in a news release from the journal.

“Our results show that surgical resection is an acceptable treatment option with good results for patients with early stage lung cancer who have been identified as high-risk for surgery,” he said.

The study included 490 early stage lung cancer patients who underwent surgery at Emory between 2009 and 2013. Of those, 180 patients were classified as high-risk.

High-risk patients had slightly longer hospital stays than standard-risk patients — five days versus four days, the study showed. And the postoperative death risk was 2 percent versus 1 percent, respectively, the research revealed.

Three years after surgery, 59 percent of high-risk patients and 76 percent of standard-risk patients were still alive, the study found.

“Importantly, we found that about 20 percent of our patients had cancer that had spread to their lymph nodes, a finding that was unexpected based on the pre-operative imaging tests,” Sancheti said in the news release.

Once the spread of cancer was discovered, these patients were able to undergo chemotherapy, an important adjunct treatment for their cancer stage. But, without surgery, the spread of cancer to the lymph nodes wouldn’t have been discovered, Sancheti explained.

“High-risk patients have a new treatment avenue that previously may have been denied to them. A multidisciplinary team should review each case to determine the best treatment plan for individual lung cancer patients,” Sancheti said.

More information

The American Cancer Society has more about lung cancer.

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Heart Valve Patients Who Manage Their Own Blood Thinners May Do Better

TUESDAY, Nov. 10, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Patients with mechanical heart valves may benefit from managing their own blood thinners, a new study suggests.

“There are several reasons that patients who self-manage treatment have better outcomes than those who follow standard management,” said study leader Dr. Thomas Decker Christensen, from Aarhus University Hospital, in Denmark.

“Self-management patients receive more detailed information about oral anticoagulation therapy; they also learn more about the influence that diet, infectious diseases, alcohol, and other drug interactions can have on their treatment than do patients receiving standard management,” Christensen explained.

“We believe that the majority of patients who have a mechanical heart valve inserted during surgery should be able to manage their oral anticoagulant therapy, and recommend this as the standard treatment approach for these patients,” he concluded.

Patients with these heart valves must take blood thinners (such as warfarin) to prevent blood clots, which could lead to strokes.

The study included slightly more than 600 patients who received mechanical heart valves and then took a course to learn how to manage their own blood thinners, gradually transitioning to self-management over the next three to 27 weeks.

These patients were compared with a control group of about 3,000 patients who received standard blood thinner management.

One year after heart valve surgery, both groups were at similar risk for major bleeding and thromboembolism, a blood clot that forms in one location and then travels and blocks another blood vessel, the findings showed.

But after five years, those in the self-management group had a lower risk of death from all causes than those in the control group, according to the study published online Nov. 10 in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

“Once patients were approved for self-management, they were allowed to continue as such but could contact the treatment center with questions or concerns,” Christensen said in a journal news release.

“Patients were provided with a portable coagulometer, which they used to analyze medication levels and monitor dosage. Blood levels were measured and tracked weekly,” he said.

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more about treatments for heart valve disease.

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Short Bursts of Intense Exercise Might Benefit Type 2 Diabetics

TUESDAY, Nov. 10, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Short sessions of high-intensity exercise may provide more health benefits for people with type 2 diabetes than longer bouts of less intense activity, a new Canadian study suggests.

The research included 76 adults recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Their average age was 67. They were randomly assigned to do either one 30-minute exercise session five days a week at 65 percent of their target heart rate, or three 10-minute workouts a day, five days a week, at 85 percent of their target heart rate.

The participants were assessed three months later. Compared to those in the lower-intensity group, those in the high-intensity group did more exercise and had larger decreases in cholesterol and blood sugar levels, lost more weight, and had greater improvements in heart health.

The patients in the high-intensity group showed a more than two-fold greater decrease in hemoglobin A1C levels. A1C is a blood test that provides a rough estimate of average blood sugar levels for the past two to three months, according to the American Diabetes Association.

While it was already known that exercise benefits people with type 2 diabetes, the focus has been on low-intensity, sustained workouts, said study co-author Avinash Pandey, an undergraduate student at the University of Western Ontario.

“However, more may be accomplished with short bursts of vigorous exercise, in which patients achieve a higher maximum target heart rate, and may be easier to fit into busy schedules,” Pandey said in an American Heart Association news release.

He also noted that since people could fit the high-intensity exercise into their schedules, they were more consistent with exercise and ended up working out more each week.

High-intensity exercise may use energy in a different way from less intense workouts, the study authors suggested.

Pandey added that the researchers hope to study bursts of intensive exercise in larger and more diverse groups of people.

“With further study, burst exercise may become a viable alternative to the current standard of care of low-intensity, sustained exercise for diabetes rehabilitation,” he said.

The study was scheduled to be presented Tuesday at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. Findings presented at meetings are generally viewed as preliminary until they’ve been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about diabetes and exercise.

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Football Linemen at Higher Risk for Heart Troubles, Study Finds

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Nov. 10, 2015 (HealthDay News) — The heart health of football players might depend on the position they play, with linemen facing a greater risk for certain heart problems compared with their other teammates, a new Harvard study suggests.

College football linemen tended to have higher blood pressure than other players, along with an increase in the thickness of their heart muscle wall, said lead researcher Dr. Jeffrey Lin, a former cardiology fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

“Over the course of just one season, there was an increase in the incidence of high blood pressure among football players, and the linemen tended to be affected the most,” Lin said. “They developed thicker walls of their heart muscle, and they had decreases in the function of their heart as well.”

These differences likely are due to the demands of a lineman position, said Lin, who is now a cardiac imaging fellow at Columbia University in New York City.

“I think there’s something intrinsic to the way linemen train and play that contributes to the development of high blood pressure,” Lin said.

Lin was to present the findings Tuesday at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. Research presented at medical meetings is typically viewed as preliminary because it has not undergone the scrutiny of a peer-reviewed publication.

Since 2006, researchers with Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University have been studying the way that sports affect the hearts of freshmen athletes.

“It’s a very unique program where they do very meticulous measures of every player, and how well they perform,” said Dr. Rachel Lampert, an associate professor of cardiology at Yale University and a member of the American College of Cardiology’s Sports and Exercise Council.

For this study, researchers in the program examined 87 freshmen football players to see how a single season would affect their hearts.

No players in the study had high blood pressure at the beginning of the season. However, by season’s end, nine of the 30 linemen had developed high blood pressure compared to only four of the 57 non-linemen, the researchers said.

Experts have long known that athletes undergo changes in their heart due to regular heavy exercise, but until now it’s been thought these adaptations did not affect overall health, Lampert and Lin said.

For example, the other college football players developed thicker heart walls too, but this didn’t seem to affect their blood pressure, Lin said.

“What this study tells us is that some of the changes may be maladaptive,” or bad for the athlete, Lampert said.

Dr. Gerald Fletcher, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, agreed with Lin that for linemen, “this is just a problem with their occupation.”

Linemen are encouraged to bulk up so they can use their weight to block opposing linemen, and throughout a typical game they rarely are required to sprint long distances, Fletcher and Lin said.

“They’re continually pushing against the other team, but there’s very little aerobic activity involved,” Lin said.

Football linemen might need more attention from team doctors, given these findings, Lin said.

“Perhaps these are the folks we should be following more carefully through a football season and through their careers, and think of treating them with medication once they reach a certain threshold of blood pressure,” he said.

Lineman might want to take on more heart-healthy habits in the off-season, such as eating right and pursuing aerobic exercise, Fletcher added.

“I don’t know how much they encourage that during the season or off-season, but I think it could help,” he said. “They don’t get a lot of aerobics during the season. That’s just the way it is.”

These results also show that all athletes can’t be lumped together when it comes to health concerns, Lampert said.

“The fact that there are differences even within a sport tells us we need to think about athletes as individuals,” Lampert said. “Understanding the causes of those differences will help us understand why the process is happening in one group rather than another.”

More information

For more on high blood pressure, visit the American Heart Association.

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Heavy Drinking May Strain the Heart

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Nov. 10, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Heavy drinking may dramatically increase a person’s risk of heart failure, even if they’re young and healthy, a new study suggests.

People who abuse alcohol are 70 percent more likely to develop heart failure, according to findings that were to be presented Tuesday at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.

The detrimental effects of hard drinking were particularly pronounced in young and middle-aged adults, and people who were otherwise in good health, said lead researcher Dr. Isaac Whitman, an electrophysiologist at the University of California, San Francisco. However, the study did not prove that heavy drinking causes heart failure.

These results suggest that younger adults need to take it easy on the booze, especially if they don’t have any risk factors for heart disease, Whitman said.

“In the case of alcohol, I don’t think it’s prudent to say I can abuse alcohol because I’m young and healthy,” he said. “You may be hurting yourself relatively more than your older counterparts. You have more to lose.”

Other studies have shown mixed results for heart health when it comes to light or moderate drinking. For example, moderate drinking seems to help lower cholesterol levels, but also increases your risk of irregular heart rate, Whitman said.

The researchers analyzed the records of more than 858,000 California patients treated between 2005 and 2009. Patients ranged in age from the 30s to the 70s.

Doctors had diagnosed about 4 percent of these people as alcohol abusers. Overall, about 12 percent developed congestive heart failure, the investigators found.

Alcohol abuse emerged as a strong predictor of congestive heart failure, even after researchers adjusted for other risk factors, such as age, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and elevated cholesterol levels.

In addition, the study authors found that alcohol abuse was even worse for the hearts of healthy people who don’t have other heart risk factors, Whitman said.

“If you are a healthier person, your heart is disproportionately more susceptible to the toxicities of alcohol,” he said.

For example, people were more affected by heavy drinking if they were younger than 60, had normal blood pressure and didn’t already suffer from heart disease or chronic kidney disease, Whitman said.

This might be because people with other heart risk factors already are in poor health, and so alcohol can’t harm them as much, Whitman suggested.

“Your heart is already sick, so the added toxicity from alcohol does not have as much of an impact,” he explained.

Heavy drinking can harm the heart in both direct and indirect ways, said Dr. Robert Eckel, a professor and cardiologist at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

Alcohol can make the heart muscle less effective, harming its ability to pump blood, Eckel said.

Whitman added that there’s a condition called alcoholic cardiomyopathy that affects people who have five or more drinks a day over a number of years, in which the heart becomes bloated and enlarged.

“It becomes a sack and it barely squeezes,” Whitman said. “You quit drinking, and it goes away.”

Hard drinking also increases blood pressure, which causes all manner of harm to the heart and blood vessels. “The more you drink, the higher your blood pressure,” Eckel said. “Once you’re drinking three or four drinks a day, your blood pressure elevates.”

Eckel said that while those who tipple occasionally might enjoy some positive effects from their nightly glass of wine, alcohol abuse is clearly bad for a person’s health.

“Too much alcohol can take us down 15 to 20 different paths when it comes to detrimental effects on health,” Eckel said.

Research presented at medical meetings is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

For more on alcohol and heart health, visit the American Heart Association.

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Obese Kids as Young as 8 Show Signs of Heart Disease

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Nov. 10, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Obese children can develop signs of heart abnormalities as young as age 8, which might drive up their risk for early death as adults, new research suggests.

“It is both surprising and alarming to us that even the youngest obese children in our study who were 8 years old had evidence of heart disease,” said study lead author Linyuan Jing, a postdoctoral fellow with Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pa.

“Ultimately, we hope that the effects we see in the hearts of these children are reversible,” Jing added. “However, it is possible that there could be permanent damage.”

For the study, Jing’s team conducted MRI scans of 40 children between 8 and 16 years old. Half were obese; half were of normal weight.

The obese kids had an average of 27 percent more muscle mass in the left ventricle region of their heart, and 12 percent thicker heart muscle overall. Both are considered indicators of heart impairment, Jing said.

Also, among 40 percent of the obese children, scans showed thickened heart muscle had already translated into a reduced ability to pump blood. Kids with this reduced heart capacity were deemed to be at “high risk” for adult cardiac strain and heart disease.

“This should be further motivation for parents to help children lead a healthy lifestyle,” Jing said.

Dr. Gregg Fonarow, a professor of cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, called the findings “alarming.”

He and Jing said the structural heart changes detected by the scans are associated with more complicated health conditions in adulthood as well as early death in adults.

The changes in heart muscle mass “suggest a significant increase in risk of heart failure, arrhythmia [irregular heartbeat] and premature cardiovascular death in children with obesity,” said Fonarow, who was not involved with the study.

Jing said the study results suggest obese children even younger than 8 years old likely have signs of heart disease, too. “Understanding the long-term ramifications will be critical as we deal with the impact of the pediatric obesity epidemic,” she said.

Obesity among 6- to 12-year-olds in the United States more than doubled over the last three decades and quadrupled among teens, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of 2012, more than one-third of children between ages 6 and 19 were either overweight or obese.

Some of the obese children in the study were struggling with health complications often associated with excess weight, including asthma, high blood pressure and depression, the researchers said. But none displayed customary warning signs of heart disease such as fatigue, dizziness or shortness of breath, Jing said.

Given that the study excluded kids with diabetes and those too large to fit inside the MRI scanning machine, the study may actually underestimate the extent of the problem, she said.

Jing said parents have a responsibility to help their children maintain a healthy weight. They should buy healthy foods instead of cheap fast food and fruit juice, “which is high in sugar but low in fiber,” she said.

Parents should also limit TV, computer and video game time, while encouraging more outdoor activities, she said.

“In addition, schools and communities need to do a better job at educating both the parents and children about the health risks of overweight and obesity,” said Jing.

Fonarow agreed, adding that “substantially increased efforts are needed to prevent and treat childhood obesity.”

The findings were scheduled for presentation Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Fla. Data and conclusions presented at meetings are usually considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

More information

There’s more on childhood obesity at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Tone Your Butt, Legs, and Core With Lindsey Vonn’s Lower-Body Blaster

Why not train like an Olympian? Lindsey Vonn, Olympic gold medalist in downhill skiing and Health‘s December cover girl, is sharing her workout secrets. These moves tone and trim everything from your core to the floor. Do this series three or four times a week, and a better bottom half awaits.

Lindsey’s wearing: Under Armour Low Sports Bra ($24; ua.com); Under Armour Women’s UA Authentic 17” Capri ($38; ua.com); and Under Armour Speedform Gemini Running Shoes ($130; ua.com)  

 

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How to Rock Lindsey Vonn’s White-Hot Swimsuit

Photo: James White

Like most Olympic gold medalists, Lindsey Vonn, has a strong, sculpted body that she’s seriously sweated for—so yeah, it’s no wonder she looks amazing on the cover of Health‘s December issue.

But we’re willing to bet that anyone, famous athlete or not, can pull off this OYE mesh one-piece ($350, niemanmarcus.com).

How can you rock it?

Step 1: Buy it.

Step 2: Put it on.

It’s available in sizes 2-16, and offers tasteful full-bottom coverage. And the boat neck combined with the perfectly placed mesh cut-outs allows you to show just enough skin. (Don’t have a tropical vacation planned yet this year? Enter for a chance to win a trip to Palm Beach in our sweepstakes with Refinery 29.)

RELATED: What 5 Amazing Athletes Eat for Breakfast

In the meantime, here are some more shots from our photo shoot with Lindsey.

Photo: James White

Lindsey’s wearing: 3.1 Phillip Lim gown (31philliplim.com for similar styles)

 

Photo: James White

Lindsey’s wearing: Yasmin Sewell coat ($1,395, barneys.com)

RELATED: Lindsey Vonn: What I Eat in a Day

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Belly Fat Is Bad, Even at a Normal Weight

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Nov. 9, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Can belly fat be a problem even for people who aren’t overweight? New research says yes, excess weight around the middle boosts the risk of premature death even for people considered normal weight.

What’s more, normal weight people with excess stomach fat had an even higher risk of dying early than overweight or obese people did, according to new research published online Nov. 10 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

“Belly fat is bad fat,” said Dr. Paul Poirier, from the Institute of Cardiology at Laval University in Quebec, Canada, and the author of an accompanying editorial in the same issue of the journal.

Stomach fat has been linked to high cholesterol, inflammation, heart disease, stroke and diabetes, he explained.

“When you have fat around the belly, it’s a lot worse than having the same amount of fat around the hip,” Poirier said. “If your weight is normal, but you have weight around the middle, it’s bad. If you’ve got a belly above 40 inches for men and 34 inches for women, this is obesity [even if your weight measurements seem normal],” Poirier said.

These people may not be obese from a weight perspective, but they are obese from a waist perspective, he said.

For the study, a team led by Dr. Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., used data from a national survey to compare the risk of premature death among more than 15,000 adults. The mean follow-up time was 14 years.

The researchers looked at body mass index (BMI), a rough estimate of body fat based on weight and height measurements. They also looked at waist-to-hip ratios.

The investigators found that normal weight adults with extra stomach fat had the worst long-term survival, regardless of BMI. And, normal weight men with bigger bellies seemed to fare even worse than slender women with more tummy fat.

A normal weight male with more fat around the waist had an 87 percent increased risk of death during the study period compared to a man who was normal weight without extra belly fat. Compared to overweight or obese men (as measured solely by BMI, without specific waist size information), a normal weight man with extra belly fat had more than twice the risk of dying early, the study revealed.

Normal weight women with extra belly fat had nearly a 50 percent increased risk of death during the study period versus a normal weight woman whose weight was more equally distributed throughout her body. Compared to obese women (measured by BMI only), the normal weight women with belly fat had a 32 percent higher risk of early death, the researchers found.

Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center, in New Haven, Conn., and president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, said the study findings raise the question: who would have more belly fat and still be at a normal weight according to their BMI?

Some people are more prone to depositing excess fat around the middle, he said. This can lead to fat accumulation in vital organs, especially the liver, he explained.

Another group may be those who have excess body fat and illness, perhaps in early stages, causing loss of lean body mass, Katz said. Although it’s not clear from this study how many people might fall into this category, he added.

Regardless of why someone has gained weight around the middle, Katz said, “We have long known that all varieties of overweight are not created equal with regard to health risk, and that central obesity is the most concerning variety.”

In his editorial, Poirier wrote, “These new data provide evidence that clinicians should look beyond BMI. Although assessing for total fat mass with BMI to identify patients at greater cardiovascular risk is a good start, it is not sufficient.”

More information

For more information on obesity, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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