Apple-type and pear-type obesity

Apple-type and pear-type obesity

Distribution of fat is at least as important as the total amount of fat in the body. Marked adverse metabolic consequences are seen with central obesity, also known as android or apple-type, but rarely with gluteo-femoral obesity known as gynoid or pear-type. The usual measure of central obesity is the waste hip ratio. As the excess fat is usually concentrated in the hip in women and the waist in men, the optimum value for the waist hip ratio is lower in women than in men.

Waist circumference has been found to be an even better marker of central obesity than waist hip ratio in some studies. At any given level of waist hip ratio or waist circumference, coronary artery disease rates are thought to be identical in men and women. It is plausible that sex differences in central obesity are the key to the gender gap in coronary artery disease.