Karen Runs Japan

[Sinner]

Japan, Seeking Trim Waists, Measures Millions


But because the new state-prescribed limit for male waistlines is a strict 33.5 inches, he had anxiously measured himself at home a couple of days earlier. “I’m on the border,” he said.
Under a national law that came into effect two months ago, companies and local governments must now measure the waistlines of Japanese people between the ages of 40 and 74 as part of their annual checkups. That represents more than 56 million waistlines, or about 44 percent of the entire population.
Those exceeding government limits — 33.5 inches for men and 35.4 inches for women, which are identical to thresholds established in 2005 for Japan by the International Diabetes Federation as an easy guideline for identifying health risks — and having a weight-related ailment will be given dieting guidance if after three months they do not lose weight. If necessary, those people will be steered toward further re-education after six more months.






http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/wo...o_interstitial

[Delfonic]

damn!

[Sinner]

those yaps are tiny compared to us amuricanz

[transplant]

I need to get on the "gay skinny" diet or just smoke meth.

[Tortures Dionysos]

WOW! How DARE the government try to help people who might have health issues because they are overweight?!

Gawd.

[Sinner]

Originally Posted by transplant

I need to get on the "gay skinny" diet or just smoke meth.

gay skinny diet = meth

[transplant]

Originally Posted by MicahB

gay skinny diet = meth

That's what I was hoping for.

*wanders around corner of Cedar Springs and Throckmorton

[SmoothHeavy]

I don't think the size of your waist line is necessarily indicative of how healthy you are.

[Sinner]

Originally Posted by transplant

That's what I was hoping for.

*wanders around corner of Cedar Springs and Throckmorton

make sure to take your shirt off

you'll make some money that way

[MC Twinkie]

This is no different than what they do now in the states where everyone takes your blood pressure. Its not like japan is forcing people to diet, its just,"oh you are kind of fat, here are some tips like maybe you should eat better and get off the couch."

I think everyone knows what their pants size is. This just kind of an intervention I guess.

[Tortures Dionysos]

Originally Posted by SmoothHeavy

I don't think the size of your waist line is necessarily indicative of how healthy you are.

Well, I have watched shows about people losing weight... and the experts do comment that when a woman's waist size gets above a certain measurement, their risk for heart disease increases.

http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/n...disease-danger

April 14, 2005 -- If you don't listen to your doctor, listen to your tailor.

By the time the tailor's tape says your waistline is larger than 39 inches, you may already be on the road to diabetes or heart disease. This holds true for both men and women, find Hans Wahrenberg, MD, and colleagues at Sweden's Karolinska Institute.

"This is like an alarm warning that you are going into the risk area," Wahrenberg tells WebMD.

Why? Wahrenberg's team finds that half of all men and women with waistlines of one meter or more -- that's 39.37 inches or more in the U.S. -- already have insulin resistance. But very few people with smaller waists have developed this dangerous condition.

Wahrenberg and colleagues report their findings in the April 15 Online First edition of the British Medical Journal.

Insulin Resistance: A Risk for Diabetes, Heart Disease
The cells in your body are powered by the sugar molecules called glucose. To keep this powerful fuel from flooding cells' engines, your body uses a hormone -- insulin -- to regulate glucose uptake. Insulin opens cells' gas caps so glucose can flow in.

But cells sometimes stop responding to insulin. This is what doctors call insulin resistance. When you have insulin resistance, your blood floods with glucose, which increases your risk for diabetes. It also fills it with other molecules that promote heart-clogging blood clots.

There are tests that gauge insulin resistance, but they are complicated, cannot be done in an office, and are usually reserved for research purposes. Now, Wahrenberg offers doctors and patients an easy rule of thumb for gauging who likely has insulin resistance.

The researchers looked at data from 2,746 "healthy" volunteers aged 18 to 72, whose waistlines ranged from 25.6 to 59 inches. All underwent complicated testing for insulin resistance.

"Insulin-resistance tests are positive in 50% of those who have a waist circumference above 1 meter [39.37 inches]," Wahrenberg says. "There are still obese people who are not insulin resistant. But if people have a waistline less than 1 meter, there is very little chance they are insulin resistant."

Earlier studies have suggested that insulin resistance can be predicted based on other clinical features. These features include body mass index (BMI), weight, hip circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio. But Wahrenberg says waist circumference alone predicts insulin resistance better than any of these other features alone or in combination.

"We are astonished waist circumference is so good a predictor," he says. "We had not expected it would have such good power."

The results also surprise Youfa Wang, MD, PhD, of the Center for Human Nutrition at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. Wang has studied ways to predict diabetes and heart disease.

"I am astonished," Wang tells WebMD. "It is quite encouraging that waist circumference is a very good predictor of insulin sensitivity and a good screening tool. It is very impressive that this can replace the other measures such as BMI as predictors."

Mono was the best diet I ever had