Your body shape can protect you against heart disease, diabetes

If you want to know if you’ll develop heart disease or diabetes, take a look in the mirror. Your body shape can be a good indicator – and, for many women, this is about the best news so far this year. People who are pear shaped – where fat gets stored on the hips, thighs and backside – seem to have natural protection against the two health problems compared with ‘apple-shaped’ people, whose fat is stored around their middle. For some reason, lower body fat has a protective effect, although scientists aren’t sure why. A team from Oxford University, who have made the discovery, say the protective effect works irrespective of an individual’s weight. (Source: International Journal of Obesity, January 12, 2010; doi:10.1038/ijo.2009.286).

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