In this environment of enlarged appearance and figure, many people do not have absolute defects in appearance, but they are more and more unconfident in their appearance or body, and even suffer from "appearance anxiety". Small eyes? Big face? Thick thighs? I can't wait to be written into the "Ten Deadly Sins" by contemporary people.
Even in Xiaomou's book, people's bodies are divided into 5-6 categories, including H-shaped, inverted triangle, pear-shaped, apple-shaped, hourglass type, etc., not only allowing everyone to sit down, but also providing a variety of dressing ideas, lightning protection guides and weight loss treasures.
One of the most discussed is the "pear-shaped body" - that is, compared to the whole body, the thighs and hips appear particularly thick and thick. Maybe many people with pear-shaped bodies (especially sisters) have had similar troubles, pants are difficult to pick the right one, either the waist is too large or the hips are too tight, when can this thigh be "sensible" a little ah?!
However, the thick legs that are madly disliked by everyone are really a "treasure"!
A large systematic review and meta-analysis published in BMJ included 72 prospective cohort studies from around the world, covering more than 2.52 million participants, and found an interesting phenomenon - people with thick thighs and large buttocks tend to have a lower risk of death and live longer!
Specifically, a 5 cm increase in thigh circumference was associated with an 18% reduction in overall mortality, while a 10 cm increase in hip circumference was associated with a 10% lower risk of death. It turns out that the "pear-shaped body" is the most ideal and longest-lived treasure body type!
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m3324
In fact, whether it is the most commonly used in scientific research or the most used indicator to measure the degree of fat and thinness in life, it is the Body Mass Index (BMI).
Multiple meta-analyses have shown a U- or J-type association between body mass index and all-cause mortality risk in the general population, with the lowest risk of death when BMI is 22-23. Because BMI is so easy to measure and calculable, it is often used as a anthropometric measure to explore the association between obesity and death and disease.
But is BMI really accurate? After all, only the two values of height and weight are included, and BMI cannot distinguish between lean body mass and fat mass, that is, it cannot accurately assess the regional distribution of body fat, so its accuracy and effectiveness have been questioned by the scientific community.
Therefore, researchers have turned their attention to more central obesity-related indicators, including: waist circumference, waist-hip ratio, waist-height ratio, waist-thigh circumference, body fat index, body shape index, etc., to comprehensively evaluate the relationship between obesity and death.
After rigorous screening, the investigators finally included 72 prospective cohort studies (each with three or more measures) that cumulatively analyzed the health data of 252,8297 participants.
The results show that
Waist circumference: pooled analysis showed that for every 10 cm increase in waist circumference, the risk of all-cause mortality increased by 11%, with hazard ratios of 1.08 and 1.12 for men and women, respectively.
Nonlinear dose-response analysis showed a J-type association between waist circumference and mortality risk in women. When waist circumference is in the range of 60 to 80 cm, the risk of all-cause mortality barely changes; But when waist circumference exceeds 80 cm, the risk of all-cause death rises sharply as waist circumference increases.
Similarly, men's waist circumference also had a J-shaped relationship with the risk of all-cause mortality – but lowest mortality at 90 cm waist circumference, followed by a sharp and straight rise.
The relationship between waist circumference and mortality risk in women
Wast-hip ratio: For every 0.1 unit increase in waist-hip ratio, the risk of death increases by 20%, and this association is stronger in women. However, no "turning point" was found in the nonlinear dose-response analysis, and the whole relationship was monotonic.
Waist to hip ratio: Similar to the waist-hip ratio, a 0.1 unit increase in the waist height ratio is associated with a 24% increase in all-cause mortality. However, there is a clear J-type nonlinear relationship between the waist height ratio and the risk of death, and the risk of all-cause mortality is minimized when the waist height ratio is 0.50, and after exceeding it, it rises sharply.
Dose-response relationship between waist-to-height ratio and risk of all-cause mortality
Waist to leg ratio: In male and female participants, for every 0.1 unit increase in waist-to-leg ratio, the risk of death increased by 19% and 15%, respectively.
To sum up, the waist really can't be fat! Waist circumference is directly linked to health, and although waist circumference highlights regional fat distribution, it focuses on visceral fat deposition. The thicker the waist, the more visceral fat and the higher the risk of death!
Body fat index: A 10% increase in body fat index is associated with a 17% increase in all-cause mortality. Nonlinear dose-response analysis showed a U-shaped association between body fat index and risk of death, with the risk lowest when the value was 30%.
Association between body fat index and risk of all-cause mortality
Thigh circumference: For every 5 cm increase in thigh circumference among all participants, the risk of all-cause death was reduced by 18%.
Hip circumference: Similar to the above values, every 10 cm increase in hip circumference was associated with a 10% reduction in all-cause mortality, and this association was more pronounced in women.
Hip circumference increases by 10 cm and hazard ratio for all-cause mortality
In other words, thick thighs, big buttocks or really a sign of health! In fact, thigh circumference and hip circumference show more beneficial buttock fat and muscle mass, so stop disgusting your legs and buttocks, it's better to find a way to reduce your tummy first!
In summary, most abdominal obesity indices (e.g., waist-circumference, waist-hip ratio, waist-to-height ratio, waist-to-leg ratio) were associated with a significant positive association with a higher risk of all-cause mortality, meaning that abdominal fat deposits unrelated to overall obesity were associated with higher mortality. On the contrary, thigh circumference and hip circumference are inversely proportional to the risk of all-cause death, that is, the superficial appearance of "thick thighs and big butt" highlights excellent hip fat and muscle, but is a symbol of health!
Blessed are the thick thighs! In fact, subcutaneous fat in the thighs is more of a protective fat — previous studies have shown that the greater the amount of thigh fat, the better blood sugar and insulin levels, and even higher HDL levels.
Stop disgusting your thick thighs, this is really healthy and beautiful~
Bibliography:
[1] Jayedi A, Soltani S, Zargar MS, Khan TA, Shab-Bidar S. Central fatness and risk of all cause mortality: systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of 72 prospective cohort studies. BMJ. 2020 Sep 23;370:m3324. doi: 10.1136/bmj.m3324. PMID: 32967840; PMCID: PMC7509947.
[2] Snijder MB, Dekker JM, Visser M, Bouter LM, Stehouwer CD, Yudkin JS, Heine RJ, Nijpels G, Seidell JC; Hoorn study. Trunk fat and leg fat have independent and opposite associations with fasting and postload glucose levels: the Hoorn study. Diabetes Care. 2004 Feb;27(2):372-7. doi: 10.2337/diacare.27.2.372. PMID: 14747216.
[3] Lotta LA, Gulati P, Day FR, Payne F, Ongen H, van de Bunt M, Gaulton KJ, Eicher JD, Sharp SJ, Luan J, De Lucia Rolfe E, Stewart ID, Wheeler E, Willems SM, Adams C, Yaghootkar H; EPIC-InterAct Consortium; Cambridge FPLD1 Consortium; Forouhi NG, Khaw KT, Johnson AD, Semple RK, Frayling T, Perry JR, Dermitzakis E, McCarthy MI, Barroso I, Wareham NJ, Savage DB, Langenberg C, O'Rahilly S, Scott RA. Integrative genomic analysis implicates limited peripheral adipose storage capacity in the pathogenesis of human insulin resistance. Nat Genet. 2017 Jan;49(1):17-26. doi: 10.1038/ng.3714. Epub 2016 Nov 14. PMID: 27841877; PMCID: PMC5774584.
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