Advise adults to keep waist size to less than half their height, says NICE

Doctors should encourage patients to measure their own waist to height ratio, new draft guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommend.

The guidelines on identifying overweight and obesity say that a waist measurement of more than half of a person’s height is an indication of increased fat in the abdomen and is associated with a greater risk of developing conditions such as type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease.

The updated draft guideline says adults with a body mass index (BMI) below 35, which is the threshold for class 2 obesity, should be encouraged …