Research
Macro partitioning
The 'hypertriglyceridemic waist' phenotype (high waist circumference combined with high fasting triglycerides) is a simple, low-cost clinical tool to identify individuals with excess visceral adiposity and high cardiometabolic risk.
If you have a large waist, get your fasting triglycerides checked. If both are high, you likely have dangerous visceral fat and are at higher risk for heart disease, even if your BMI is normal. This simple check can guide you to seek further medical advice or lifestyle changes.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
We first suggested that the combination of an elevated waistline along with the presence of a simple blood marker, elevated fasting triglyceride concentrations, was predictive of excess visceral adiposity. We defined this condition as 'hypertriglyceridemic waist,' a simple clinical phenotype predictive of excess visceral adiposity.
Why this rating
Based on large prospective studies (EPIC-Norfolk) cited in the review.
Source
Pathophysiology of Human Visceral Obesity: An Update
André Tchernof et al. · Physiological Reviews · 2013
DOI 10.1152/physrev.00033.2011
narrative_reviewCited 2,700×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Excess visceral adipose tissue is a primary driver of cardiometabolic risk, independent of total body fat or BMI, by causing insulin resistance, atherogenic dyslipidemia, and inflammation.Strong
- Lifestyle interventions leading to weight loss preferentially mobilize visceral fat compared to subcutaneous fat, thereby improving cardiometabolic risk profiles.Good
Related findings · Macro partitioning
- Total daily protein intake of 1.6 g/kg/day is sufficient for maximizing resistance training-induced muscle gains, with an upper confidence interval of 2.2 g/kg/day.Strong
- Resistance exercise training combined with sufficient dietary protein intake acts synergistically to maximize skeletal muscle hypertrophy, with protein intake saturating around 1.6 g/kg/day for general populations and potentially requiring 2.0-2.2 g/kg/day for resistance-trained individuals.Strong
- Trans fats should be completely eliminated from the diet, as they increase LDL cholesterol, decrease HDL cholesterol, and are directly associated with increased coronary risk.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →