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Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine pp 1–2Cite as

Waist Girth

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Synonyms

Waist circumference

Definition

Waist girth is related to abdominal visceral fat and predicts a number of disease risk factors associated with obesity.

Description

Obesity which is explained by an increase in body fat is associated with a clustering of risk factors known as the metabolic syndrome and originates from an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. However, there is substantial evidence that body fat distribution rather than total fat mass per se plays a more important role in the development of such risk factors. Gynoid obesity (commonly referred to as “pear shaped”) reflects adipose tissue accumulation around the hips and buttocks, whereas android obesity (more commonly referred to as “apple shaped”) reflects increased abdominal fat deposition. Android obesity increases with age, is more prominent in males, and poses a significantly greater risk for the development of hypertension, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes,...

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References and Further Reading

  • American College of Sports Medicine. (2006). ACSM’s guidelines for exercise testing and prescription (7th ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

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  • McArdle, W. D., Katch, F. I., & Katch, V. L. (2001). Exercise physiology: Energy, nutrition and human performance (5th ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

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  • Roche, A. F., Heymsfield, S. B., & Lohman, T. G. (1996). Human body composition. Champaign: Human Kinetics.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Deakin University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Christopher Shaw

Authors
  1. Christopher Shaw
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christopher Shaw .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA

    Marc Gellman

Section Editor information

  1. School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

    Anna C. Whittaker

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© 2019 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

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Cite this entry

Shaw, C. (2019). Waist Girth. In: Gellman, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_1342-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_1342-2

  • Received:

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6439-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6439-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference MedicineReference Module Medicine

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