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Researchers at McMaster University near Toronto have found that the best predictor of cardiovascular disease is not Body Mass Index (BMI), the commonly used ratio of weight to height, but rather your waist measurement divided by your hip measurement. A 36-inch waist and 40-inch hips would be a ratio of 0.9, for instance. Anything over 0.85 for women and 0.9 for men indicates greater risk for heart disease. The risk increases continuously with higher waist-to-hip ratio: Those in the highest fifth of people studied were 2.52 times more likely to have a heart attack as those in the lowest fifth.
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