Belviq Is First New Prescription Weight Loss Drug in 13 Years

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

June 27, 2012 -- For the first time in more than a decade, the FDA has approved a new drug to help people lose weight.

Today, Arena Pharmaceuticals' Belviq (lorcaserin hydrochloride) became the firstprescription weight loss drug approved by federal regulators in 13 years.

The FDA approved Belviq as an addition to a reduced-calorie diet and exercise, for use in chronic weight control.

The approval is specifically for use in adults with a BMI above 30 (considered obese), and for adults with a BMI of 27 (considered overweight) or above if they also have at least one weight-related medical condition, such as high blood pressure,type 2 diabetes, or high cholesterol.

Belviq should not be used during pregnancy.

Today's move comes almost two years after the FDA refused to approve the drug, citing concerns about its safety and effectiveness.

But last May, an FDA advisory committee overwhelmingly endorsed making the drug available to people who are obese and those with health issues related to being overweight.

The drug's manufacturer will be required to conduct six post-marketing studies, including a long-term trial to look for heart attack and stroke risks, the FDA announced today.

Weight Loss Drug Targets Hunger Center

Belviq works by targeting a key area of the brain that regulates appetite, known as the serotonin 2C receptor.

This is the same appetite-controlling hormone targeted by fenfluramine, the "fen" component of the notorious 1990s diet drug combo fen-phen. Fen-phen was linked to potentially life-threatening heart valve problems in as many as one in three users.

But Belviq is much more selective than fenfluramine and much safer, its manufacturer says, because it specifically targets serotonin receptors associated with hunger.

In a study published two years ago in the New England Journal of Medicine, about half of obese people who took the drug for a year lost at least 5% of their body weight, compared to 20% of dieters who took a placebo pill, while about 1 in 5 Belviq users lost 10% or more of their body weight, compared to 1 in 14 placebo users.

People who continued on the drug for two years were able to maintain their weight loss better than those who switched to placebo after one year.

Study participants were monitored closely for heart valve irregularities, and no difference was seen in the two groups.

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Diet and depression: can food help fight the blues?

A healthy diet can help reduce your risk of a range of chronic diseases, but could it also help ward off depression?
by Claudine Ryan

Most of us already know that a healthy diet can help ward off is a range of chronic diseases, including heart disease and diabetes.

Now a growing body of research suggests it might also boost the health of our minds – although we're only just beginning to understand why.

"Intuitively we know that our physical health has an impact on our mental health and vice versa, but it's really been only since the end of 2009 that good scientific studies have looked at the link between diet and mental health properly," says Dr Felice Jacka, a researcher at the Barwon Psychiatric Research Unit at Deakin University.

And it's raising some exciting prospects.

Food and mood

Jacka herself recently looked at the dietary habits and mental health of more than of 3000 adolescents, who had their diet and mental health measured in 2005 and then again in 2007.

As expected, the biggest predictor of a participant's mental health in 2007 was their mental health in 2005; but the researchers also found that diet quality in 2005 – either healthy or unhealthy – often predicted mental health in 2007.

Jacka says this relationship was clear, even after taking into account other variables known to affect someone's mental health, such as age, gender, level of physical activity, weight and socio-economic status.

"What we found with this study, which was very important, is that adolescents whose diet improved over that period, their mental health also improved on average," Jacka said.

She made similar findings in an earlier study, which examined the diets of more than 1000 women.

In other words it seems what you eat really matters to your mental wellbeing and might even provide a way of fighting the epidemic of depression.

"It doesn't have to be a perfect diet ... but you should try to make sure you are getting the recommended two [serves of] fruits and five [serves of] vegetables every day. You should also aim to eat your lean red meat, fish twice a week and the whole grains," she says.

Jacka admits it's hard to be 100 per cent certain that it's diet affecting your mental health and not the other way around. But the evidence is pointing that way.

"I think the burden of evidence now supports the hypothesis that the quality of your diet matters in terms of the risk for mental health problems," Jacka says.

Omega-3 fatty acids

While Jacka's interest is your whole diet, Dr Bronwyn Hegarty, a physiologist and researcher from the Black Dog Institute at the University of New South Wales, is particularly interested in the role of omega-3 fatty acids and mental health.

Omega-3s play a crucial role in healthy brain function and research has shown that people with depression have lower levels of some omega-3s in certain parts of their brain.

Omega-3s are associated with several biological processes that are linked to depression, such as growth of brain cells, your brain cells' ability to communicate with each other, gene expression and inflammation.

Omega-3s are essential fatty acids found mainly in seafood, but also in certain plants and red meat. And while most of us are no longer consuming enough omega-3s, our increased consumption of another type of fat known as omega-6s might be relevant too. (Omega-6s are found in red meat, especially grain-fed beef, and certain plant oils used in making processed foods.)

"One of the theories is that the problem that is leading to depression and other chronic diseases – especially associated with inflammation – is that there is an imbalance between omega-6 and omega-3s," Hegarty says.

Inflammation is your body's defence against external pathogens, such as microbes or bacteria. But it's believed that inflammation can also play a role in depression and other chronic health conditions, including cardiovascular disease.

"We're now realising that diet may be very important in determining whether you have this low inflammatory state, which seems to be, not necessarily underlying, but definitely associated with a lot of the chronic diseases as diverse as cardiovascular disease to depression and diabetes."

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More Olive Oil in Diet Could Cut Stroke Risk: Study

By Ellin Holohan
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, June 15 (HealthDay News) -- Adding olive oil to your diet may reduce your risk of stroke, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that older people who used olive oil intensively -- meaning they regularly cooked with it and used it in salad dressing -- were 41 percent less likely to have a stroke than those who rarely consumed it.

The lead author of the six-year study, Cecilia Samieri of the University of Bordeaux in France, said why olive oil might help reduce the risk of strokes was unclear. But it might result from people replacing less healthful saturated fats with mono-unsaturated olive oil, she added.

"We can't infer from our study which aspects of olive oil prevent stroke," Samieri said. But "it may be a substitution effect." Thus, eating fewer saturated fats improves the health of olive oil users. Prior research had documented olive oil's anti-inflammatory benefit, she added.

Properties of the oil itself, including oleic acid or polyphenols, could also hold the secret to the oil's protective effect, said Samieri, a post-doctoral faculty member in the university's department of nutritional epidemiology. Polyphenols are antioxidant nutrients that reduce inflammation in the vascular system, according to the study. Oleic acid, a fatty acid, makes up 80 percent of olive oil.

The study is published in the June 15 online edition of Neurology.

Stroke, an outcome of poor vascular health, is the third leading cause of death in the United States, according to the American Heart Association.

Strokes result from vascular bleeding or, more frequently, a blockage of blood flow to the brain. Diets high in foods containing saturated fat, such as meat and butter, have been linked to stroke.

In the study, researchers looked at how much olive oil 7,625 French people aged 65 years and over routinely used, ranging from none (23 percent) to moderate use in cooking or dressing (40 percent), to intensive use in cooking and dressing (37 percent). The participants primarily used extra-virgin olive oil, and the study controlled for stroke risk factors, such as high blood pressure, exercise, smoking and alcohol use.

After nearly six years, 148 strokes occurred. But those who used olive oil the most had a 41 percent lower risk of stroke, compared to those who used none. The overall stroke rate was 1.5 percent for the olive oil users compared to 2.6 percent for the others, according to the report.

A second study sample had some contradictory findings, the research noted. Oleic acid was measured in the blood of 1,245 participants. Among that group, 27 strokes occurred, with a 73 percent reduced risk of stroke found in people with higher levels of oleic acid, the study found. But the higher level was also linked to higher consumption of butter and goose or duck fat, which "may explain the unfavorable pattern of risk factors associated with higher plasma oleic acid," according to the findings.

A nutrition expert cautioned that people should not overuse olive oil in an effort to improve health because it is a high-calorie fat.

"The takeaway from the study is that a diet high in olive oil does have a protective benefit, but we need to look further to find out how much is beneficial while still maintaining a low-fat diet," said Heather Davis, a clinical dietitian at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

She said that the American diet is rarely lacking in fat, which is needed for healthy skin and hair, and for processing certain vitamins.

"We need to look further to establish an upper limit," said Davis. While the researchers were unsuccessful in establishing a numerical value for optimal oleic acid, "it's good that the idea is out there," she said.

She said it is important to continue the research. "We know olive oil is beneficial, but it would be advantageous to be able to determine a protective range in a patient's blood," Davis noted.

Funding for the research came from the French government and Lipids for Industry, Safety and Health, an alliance of academia and industry.

More information

Simple, Fast, Effective! Weight Loss Tips!

These are just a few changes you can make to your everyday life to help you shift a few pounds. They’re easy to make, won’t break the bank, and you will soon notice a difference when you start to look and feel good!

1. Get out of the house!

Firstly, there is nothing worse for your diet or exercise regime than being stuck in the house all day. Being near that fridge is only going to make you want to snack on something. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve had is to go out somewhere. After breakfast you could take a stroll into town (avoid driving or getting public transport) and go shopping or visit some friends, or if you have kids, take them out somewhere. It’s bound to help you lose some weight and can burn a lot of calories. Also, being out of the house helps you feel better about yourself because you’re getting exercise and some fresh air, also keeping you busy so you don’t feel like eating much. When you return you’re less likely to eat a big meal for lunch because of how much better you should feel.

2. Drink, drink, drink!

I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is no! Not alcohol! But water. Drinking more water is the best way to lose weight, as it flushes through your system allowing food to digest better. It also keeps you hydrated which can make you feel more awake, energised and make you feel good about yourself. It’s also good for clearing up your complexion!

3. The 3 hour rule!
After not eating for three hours, your body goes into “starvation” mode. Which doesn’t mean you’re going to starve, but it just means that your body starts craving and needing more food, even if you don’t feel hungry. Another good tip would be to eat reasonably portioned meals (not too much) every three hours to stop you becoming so hungry you start to binge. This also keeps your metabolism at a reasonable level so that your body can take in the right amounts of food and burn it healthily.

4. Don’t be too hard on yourself!

Too many people fail diets because they ban themselves from eating certain foods. Don’t do this, because you’re setting yourself up to fail. Allow yourself a little bit of the things you enjoy or you will crave it too much and binge! Nothing is bad for you in small amounts as part of a balanced diet, so just cut down on the things you feel are bad for you and increase your intake of fruit and vegetables. Easy!

5. Soups and smoothies!

Soups and smoothies are a great way to lose weight as each is low in calories, high in fruit or vegetable content and very, very filling. Eating these foods mean you won’t snack as much and will get your 5-a-day! They’re especially good if you make them yourself, so you know what’s going in them, you know you will like them and your cooking skills are bound to improve. Making food yourself is another tip, as this keeps you busy, meaning you’re less likely to snack if you can’t wait for meal times.

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5 Websites About Healthy Eat

We all know we should be eating healthy food ... but we all also know that it's easier said than done. Before you give up on good eating and head for the drive-through, check out these awesome websites that'll help you eat healthy.

• EatBetterAmerica.com
  This site "healthifies" recipes to make them lower in fat, sugar and calories. They also have weight management tips, 30-minute meals, coupons and a community where you can connect with other people to share your healthy eating tips and goals.
  
• MyPyramid.gov
  Remember that old food pyramid you learned about in school? Fugetaboutit! Today you can customize your own food pyramid with the interactive tools on this official government website. They offer daily food plans for adults, kids and new moms and lay out how much of each food group you should be eating based on your age, weight and activity level.
  
• Self Nutrition Data.com
  This user-friendly nutrition website has tons of tools to help you eat better, including an awesome nutrient search calculator where you can get nutritional 411 on just about any food, personalized recipe lists, food comparison charts and a customized daily needs calculator where you can figure out your daily nutrient requirements.
  
• SparkRecipes.com
  This site lets you input a recipe and calculates the nutritional value for you, so you can create a healthy eating plan for yourself. It also offers healthy recipes, a thriving community and fun food facts to help you make smart choices and learn how to eat healthier.
  
• FatBurgr.com
  If there's anything that'll make you think twice about hitting your fave fast food joint, this site is it. They give you the low-down on the nutritional value and calories in restaurant meals so you can make healthier food choices. (And we hate to break it to you, but that "healthy" Chicken Caesar salad you love? It's got 1010 calories! Yikes!)

51 Healthy Living Cheat Sheets to Improve Your Life

No matter your salary, you can always take steps to improve your life and health. You don’t have to be a health care professional to learn how to live healthy. If you want to improve your life, creating a better situation for yourself, you can do so. There are plenty of resources available for you. Here are 51 healthy living cheat sheets that can help you improve your life:

Fitness

One of the best things you can do to enhance your life is to get proper exercise. Physical activity can help you feel better, and help you reduce your chance of some diseases.

1. Training Cheat Sheet: This cheat sheet from Men’s Fitness is designed to help you get back to strength training and get in shape if you are just starting at (or going back to) the gym.
2. Wii Fitness for Dummies: This cheat sheet is a great way to learn how to use Wii Fit to increase your fitness. Maximize the efficiency of your Wii Fit program.
3. Exercise Cheat Sheet: Shape magazine offers an exercise cheat sheet full of quick, effective exercises you can do yourself to help you get into shape.
4. A Time Crunched Mama’s Exercise Cheat Sheet: This are quick exercise you can do to maximize your efforts to get into shape — even if you are short on time.
5. Exercise for weight loss: Calories burned in 1 hour: The Mayo Clinic offers this helpful cheat sheet that lists how many calories different exercises burn.
6. 20 Daily Activities You Can Do That Burn Calories: You can cheat on your exercise program by doing something a little more fun than just straight exercising. This list includes gardening, house cleaning, car repairs and kissing.
7. Calories Burned: Don’t want to do one activity for an hour? This cheat sheet will help you figure out how to burn calories the fastest, with counts for what you burn in 10 minutes running, playing volleyball, gardening or dancing.
8. 8 Ways to Exercise While You Commute: Tone up during your commute. Here are some exercises to do while you are on your way to work.
9. Pregnancy Exercise – 5 Things You Must Know: Before you start exercising while pregnant, use this cheat sheet to help you do so without putting your baby at risk.

Nutrition

Eating right can help you feel better and fight disease. Live healthier with little tweaks to your diet.

10. Chew the Right Thing: A Nutrition Cheat Sheet: A great sheet offering an at-a-glance look at the official dietary guidelines from the USDA.
11. Eating Healthy One Step At A Time: Use this cheat sheet to help you make diet changes gradually so that they become long-term habits.
12. Cheat sheet: do what the pros do: eat more in order to lose more: This cheat sheet takes a look at what you can do to fine tune your diet so that you can still eat and stay in shape.
13. Diet Cheat Sheet: This basic sheet breaks it down so that you can see exactly how what you eat affects your weight.
14. Carb-Counters Cheat Sheet for Fruits and Vegetables: No, you shouldn’t cut fruits and veggies out of your diet. But if you are interested, here is a cheat sheet of carbs amounts for fruits and vegetables.
15. List of High-Protein Foods and Amount of Protein in Each: If you are interested in your protein intake, this cheat sheet can help you figure out what is in each type of food.
16. List of High Carbohydrate Foods: Learn about carbs, how they can benefit you, and which foods have a higher amount of carbs.
17. Ten Worst and Best Foods: A quick cheat sheet of some of the worst foods you can eat for your health — and some of the best foods that you can eat.
18. The Nutrition Cheat Sheet: A quick reference to different vitamins and minerals, where they come from, and how they benefit your body.
19. Dietary Fiber Cheat Sheet: Learn about different types of fiber, what they do to help you, and how you can get what you need.

Mind and Spirit

You need rest, relaxation, and refreshment. Here are some ways that you can rejuvenate yourself in order to live a better and feel healthier.

20. Meditation for Dummies Cheat Sheet: A cheat sheet designed to help you prepare for meditation, and use meditation to your benefit.
21. A Cheat Sheet for New Meditators: Use this cheat sheet to help you begin a meditation practice, or to remind you of sound meditation techniques.
22. Sleeping Smart Cheat Sheet: This sheet is provided by the National Sleep Foundation and offers tips to help you refresh yourself through quality sleep.
23. Cheat Sheet for Power Naps: Learn the art of the power nap with this helpful cheat sheet.
24. Bite-sized wisdom: 25 super inspiring quotes to memorize: When your spirit is in need of a lift, these quotes can help you find inspiration.
25. Win the Mind Games: This helpful cheat sheet provides tips for improving your brain power and staying sharp.
26. 120 Ways to Boost Your Brain Power: Condition your mind with these helpful hints.
27. Tai Chi for Beginners: Get the basics of this mind/body exercise that can help rejuvenate you and help you feel a better sense of well-being.

Relationships

Good relationships are part of a happy, full life. Here are some ways to help your relationships work a little bit better.

28. Divorce for Dummies Cheat Sheet: Get through that divorce, with help from this cheat sheet to help you know what needs to be decided.
29. Relationship Cheat Sheet: Understand what it means to cheat on your significant other.
30. Improving Your Relationship for Dummies: This cheat sheet helps you find ways to improve your relationships with others.
31. The Happy Couple Cheat Sheet: Get 15 steps to help you improve your time together as a couple.
32. 9 Marriage Rules You Should Break: You’ve heard about the “rules” of a good marriage. Here is a cheat sheet for nine that you should break.
33. 10 Tips for Raising Children of Character: Improve your relationship with your children, and learn how to raise good kids.
34. Things That Make Talking About Sex to Teens Tough and What to Do About Them: Have “the talk” in a constructive manner.
35. Top 10 In-Laws Coping Tips: This cheat sheet can help you keep your relationship with your in-laws — and your spouse — on better ground.
36. How to Network Like a Pro: Use professional relationships to help you advance through networking.

Green Living

Many people feel better and healthier when they are engaged in greener practices.

37. 15 Reasons to Eat Organic Food: A cheat sheet offering compelling reasons to eat organic food.
38. Organic Food Buying Cheat Sheet: Lifehacker presents this helpful cheat sheet to for reading organic food labels.
39. Plastic Recycling Cheat Sheet: Helpful hints to ensure that you are recycling properly.
40. What to Recycle Quick List: A cheat sheet that can help you see what items you should be recycling.
41. Going back to school? Here’s a green cheat sheet: When your kids go back to school, these tips can help make the experience a little greener.
42. Cheat sheet of non-toxic tips and eco-wisdom: Quick look at keeping your home free of toxins with different products.
43. Energy Efficiency Tips: Increase the energy efficiency of your home, with a variety of different improvement ideas, from no cost to expensive.
44. 7 Cheap and Green Landscaping Tips: A handy cheat sheet to help you green the outside of your home.
45. 7 Tips fro Growing a Health Organic Garden: Go green by growing your own food in an organic garden.

Disease

Are you managing a disease? Here are some ways to improve your life, even though you may be challenged in your health.

46. Diabetes for Dummies Cheat Sheet: This sheet looks at ways to more effectively get your diabetes under control — and maybe improve your situation.
47. Prediabetes for Dummies: Do your best to avoid dull-blown diabetes with this helpful cheat sheet.
48. Multiple Sclerosis for Dummies: Learn to live a full life, even with MS.
49. Living Gluten-Free For Dummies: This helpful cheat sheet can help you if you are living gluten-free for any reason (including Celiac disease).
50. Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Cheat Sheet: A look at risk factors and tips about beating this cancer.
51. STD Cheat Sheet: Learn about STDs, how they are spread, and treatments for them.

See more...

Sacred Heart Diet – Quick fast weight loss

Okay, before i go into this diet in detail, be aware it IS a fad diet, however its one of the more healthy ones, and its VERY effective. I used this to kick my plateau.I would never reccomend this unless you absolutly had to kick a plateau, or need to loose weight for surgery etc (which is why i did it).
Its very hard to stick to, and i had been happily sticking to a 1200 calorie a day diet for 8 months at the time of doing this, and i STILL found it excessivly hard to stick too. On the bright side, im on day 6 now and ive lost 4.5kg/10lb.
It generally seems to deny you:
* All fats
* All Starches
* All Wheat based products
* All Processed foods

---

If correctly followed, it will clean out your system of impurities and give you a feeling of well-being. After only 7 days of this process, you will begin to feel lighter by at least 10 pounds (4.5kg) and possibly 17 pounds(7.7kg), and experience an abundance of energy. (though i felt tired for the first couple days on this diet)

SOUP:

• 1 or 2 cans of stewed tomatoes
• 3 plus large green onions
• 1 large can of beef broth (no fat)
• 1 pkg. Lipton Soup mix (chicken noodle)
• 1 bunch of celery
• 2 cans green beans
• 2 lbs. Carrots
• 2 Green Peppers

Season with salt, pepper curry, parsley, if desired, or bouillon, hot or Worcestershire sauce. Cut veggies in small to medium pieces. Cover with water. Boil fast for 10 minutes. Reduce to simmer and continue to cook until veggies are tender.

This soup can be eaten anytime you are hungry during the week. Eat as much as you want, whenever you want. This soup will not add calories. The more you eat, the more you will lose. You may want to fill a thermos in the morning if you will be away during the day.

DRINKS:

• Unsweetened juices
• Tea (also herbal)
• Coffee
• Cranberry juice
• Skim milk
• Water, water, water

DAY ONE

Any fruit (except bananas). Cantaloupes and watermelon are lower in calories than most other fruits. Eat only soup and fruit today.

DAY TWO

All vegetables. Eat until you are stuffed with fresh raw, cooked or canned veggies. Try to eat green leafy veggies and stay away from dry beans, peas or corn. Eat veggies along with the soup. At dinnertime tonight reward yourself with a big baked potato and butter. Don’t eat any fruits through today.

DAY THREE

Eat all the soup, fruit and veggies you want. Do not have a baked potato. If you have eaten as above for three days and not cheated, you should find that you have lost 5-7 pounds.

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Is your weight a health risk?

According to a new study from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 9 out of every 10 Australian adults are living with at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

Among these risk factors, obesity ranks very highly among tobacco smoking, physical inactivity, low fruit consumption, low vegetable consumption, risky alcohol consumption, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and diabetes.

Obesity related health risks

Obesity is a serious medical condition, and in addition to increasing our risk of cardiovascular disease is also associated with a wide range of chronic and life-threatening conditions and severe health complications.

In fact, Obesity has been linked with all of the following diseases and conditions:        

• Heart Disease

• Certain cancers (post-menopausal breast, colon and endometrial cancer)

• Type 2 diabetes

• High Blood Pressure

• Breathlessness

• Gallbladder disease

• Reproductive hormone abnormalities

• Sleep apnoea

• Osteoarthritis (knees)

• Polycystic ovary syndrome

• Insulin resistance

• High uric acid levels and gout

• Impaired fertility

• Low back pain

• Increased anaesthetic risk

• Foetal defects associated with maternal obesity

• Abnormal lipid / body fat profile

Techniques for assessing our weight related health risk.

According to the American National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) the assessment of risk associated with being overweight involves using three key measures:

1. Body mass index (BMI)
2. Waist circumference, and
3. Risk factors for diseases and conditions associated with obesity.

The BMI is a measure of your weight relative to your height and waist circumference measures abdominal fat. Combining these with information about your additional risk factors yields your risk for developing obesity-associated diseases.

What is Your Risk?

1. Body Mass Index (BMI)

BMI is a reliable indicator of total body fat, which is related to the risk of disease and death. The score is valid for both men and women but it does have some limits. These limits include:

• Potentially overestimating the body fat in athletes and those with muscular builds.

• Potentially underestimating body fat in older people and others who have lost muscle mass.

• Not taking into consideration weight gain during pregnancy. Pregnant women should contact a health professional to assure appropriate weight gain during pregnancy.

For your convenience, a BMI calculator is available for you to use free of charge on this website.

The BMI calculator is very easy to use and there are full instructions listed on the BMI Calculator page.

To navigate to and use this calculator simply click on this link: BMI Calculator or go to the main menu and you'll find a direct link to the BMI calculator under Weight Loss > Tools > BMI Calculator.

2. Waist Circumference

Waist circumference is a good indicator of your abdominal fat which is another predictor of your risk for developing heart disease and other serious medical conditions.

To correctly determine your waist circumference, place a measuring tape snugly around your waist at the level of your belly button.

As a general guide, health risks are said to increases with a waist measurement of over:

• 102 centimetres or 40 inches in men and

• 88 centimetres or 35 inches in women.

The table below, Risks of Obesity-Associated Diseases by BMI and Waist Circumference, provides you with an idea of whether your BMI combined with your waist circumference increases your risk for developing obesity associated diseases or conditions.

Classification of Overweight and Obesity by BMI, Waist Circumference, and Associated Disease Risks
			Disease Risk*
	BMI	Obesity Class	Men <102cm Women <88cm	Men >102cm Women >88cm
Underweight	<18.5	-	-	-
Normal	18.5 - 24.9	-	-	-
Overweight	25.0 - 29.9	-	Increased	High
Obesity	30.0 - 34.9	I	High	Very High
	35.0 - 39.9	II	Very High	Very High
Extreme Obesity	40.0+	III	Extremely High	Extremely High

Source: NHLBI.
* Disease risk for type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and CVD.
+ Increased waist circumference can also be a marker for increased risk even in persons of normal weight.

3. Other Risk Factors

Besides being overweight or obese, there are additional risk factors to consider, namely:

• high blood pressure (hypertension)

• high LDL-cholesterol ("bad" cholesterol)

• low HDL-cholesterol ("good" cholesterol)

• high triglycerides

• high blood glucose (sugar)

• family history of premature heart disease

• physical inactivity

• cigarette smoking

Overall assessment and NHLBI recommendations.

If you fall into the obese (BMI greater than or equal to 30) or overweight categories (BMI of 25 to 29.9) and have two or more of the other risk factors listed above, the NHLBI recommends weight loss.

Even a small weight loss (just 10 percent of your current weight) can help to lower your risk of developing diseases associated with obesity.

Overweight people who do not have a high waist measurement, and have less than 2 risk factors may need to prevent further weight gain rather than lose weight.

To be sure about your particular situation, talk to your doctor to see if you are at an increased risk and if you should lose weight.

Conclusion.

According to a new study from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 9 out of every 10 Australian adults are living with at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

For a growing number of us, this risk factor is, or includes obesity.

Obesity is a serious medical condition that is associated with a wide range of chronic and life-threatening conditions and severe health complications.

If you think that your current weight may be putting your health at risk, you now know how to assess that risk yourself using the information and tools provided above.

As always though, in addition to conducting an initial self-assessment, we encourage you to speak with your doctor and get professional advice on the status of your most valuable asset - your health.

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