Energy balance
Reducing waist circumference through diet and exercise improves cardiometabolic risk factors, but the reduction in WC itself may not be the direct cause of the benefit; rather, it reflects broader metabolic improvements.
Exercise and diet reduce waist size and improve health markers like blood pressure and sugar. However, focus on the overall health benefits rather than just the waist measurement, as the two are linked but not strictly causally linked in all cases.
Data from several clinical weight loss and exercise training trials have shown that reductions in WC occur concomitantly with reductions in obesity-related cardiometabolic risk factors and disease. However, these results do not prove that the reduction in WC was responsible for the beneficial effect on health outcome.
Why this rating
Observational data from trials shows correlation, but causality is explicitly stated as unproven.
Source
Waist Circumference and Cardiometabolic Risk: A Consensus Statement from Shaping America's Health: Association for Weight Management and Obesity Prevention; NAASO, The Obesity Society; the American Society for Nutrition; and the American Diabetes Association
Samuel Klein et al. · Obesity · 2007
DOI 10.1038/oby.2007.632
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