Why Ageon uses waist-to-height ratio

Waist-to-height ratio is your waist measurement divided by your height. Under 0.5 means your waist is less than half your height. The UK's NICE guideline treats 0.5 to 0.59 as increased health risk and 0.6 or more as further increased risk.

Fat around your middle, especially around your organs, is more closely tied to diabetes and heart disease than total weight is. BMI can't tell where fat sits. In 2020, an international group of experts called waist size a vital sign that doctors should measure alongside BMI.

A 2012 meta-analysis of studies with over 300,000 adults compared the measures directly. Waist-to-height ratio picked out people with high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease better than BMI did, and better than waist size alone. It held for men and women and across ethnic groups.

Ageon never asks your weight. To measure your waist, find the bottom of your ribs and the top of your hips. Wrap the tape around your middle halfway between them, which is usually just above your belly button. Breathe out normally, then read the tape without pulling it tight. Adding your waist is optional.