Mixed
Waist circumference (WC) and BMI are significantly less accurate predictors of visceral adipose tissue (VAT) compared to total fat mass (FM) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) across all demographic groups.
If you are using BMI or waist circumference to assess your risk for visceral fat (which drives metabolic disease), understand that these metrics are less accurate for VAT than for total body fat. You might have a 'normal' BMI but high visceral fat, or vice versa. This inaccuracy is not uniform; it varies by sex and race, meaning standard cut-offs may not reflect your actual internal fat risk profile.
Correlations with WC were lowest for abdominal VAT (range: 0.73–0.77) compared to abdominal SAT (range: r = 0.82–0.92) and FM (range: r = 0.85–0.93). Similarly, the correlations with BMI were lowest for abdominal VAT (range: 0.61 – 0.69) compared to abdominal SAT (range: r = 0.86–0.93) and FM (range: r = 0.91–0.94).
Why this rating
Large sample size (n=1,667), direct measurement via CT/DXA, but cross-sectional design limits causal inference.
Source
The Relationship of Waist Circumference and BMI to Visceral, Subcutaneous, and Total Body Fat: Sex and Race Differences
Sarah M. Camhi et al. · Obesity · 2010
DOI 10.1038/oby.2010.248
More from this paper
- For a given waist circumference or BMI, white adults have higher levels of visceral adipose tissue (VAT) than African-American adults, particularly at higher levels of adiposity.Good
- Women have higher levels of subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and fat mass (FM) than men for any given waist circumference or BMI.Good
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