Research
Hormonal
Waist circumference does not predict insulin resistance better than body mass index (BMI); both measures are similarly correlated with insulin resistance.
You do not need to obsess over your waist circumference as a superior health metric. Your BMI is just as good at predicting your risk for insulin resistance. Focus on maintaining a healthy weight overall rather than trying to optimize one specific body measurement.
GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
Farin et al. [29], Abbasi et al. [30], and Sung et al. [31] showed that the relationship between BMI and WC are similarly related in both men and women... Moreover, the relationship between BMI and WC are similarly related to quantitative measures of IMGU (peripheral insulin resistance) in both men and women [29].
Why this rating
Based on multiple studies showing high correlation between BMI and WC and their similar relationship to insulin resistance.
Source
Myths about Insulin Resistance: Tribute to Gerald Reaven
Sun H. Kim et al. · Endocrinology and Metabolism · 2019
DOI 10.3803/enm.2019.34.1.47
narrative_reviewCited 12×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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