Study... Increasing a woman's waist circumference increases her risk of breaking a bone

A new study has found that increasing a woman's waist circumference in middle age increases her risk of breaking a bone.

According to the British newspaper "Daily Mail", the study was conducted by researchers from the University of "Laval" in Quebec, and included 9,985 women and 9,372 men, aged between 40 and 70 years.

The participants were recruited between 2009-2010, and followed up for six years, during which more than 800 of them sustained body fractures.

Next, the study team looked at any possible relationship between these fractures and patients' waist circumference and body mass index.

The team found that every two-inch (5cm) increase in a woman's waist circumference increased the risk of a below-knee fracture by 7 percent and the risk of fracture of any other type by 3 percent.

The study's lead author, Dr. Anne Frederic Turcotte, said this may be due to the effect of visceral fat, which is stored deep in the abdomen, secreting compounds in women's bodies that negatively affect bone strength.

As for men, experts have found the opposite result.

In general, being underweight was associated with an increased risk of fractures, especially arm fractures.

And the NHS says women should try to keep their waist circumference below 31.5 inches (80 cm).

But most middle-aged women have a waist circumference higher than that.

Experts said more research is needed to validate their findings on a larger sample of participants.

The results of this study were presented in detail at the European Congress on Obesity in Maastricht, Netherlands.

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