Daily Times

Sir: This is with reference to the directive by the IG Punjab to police officers to keep their abdominal girth within 38 inches diameter for keeping themselves physically fit, reported in the press recently. In this respect, international health authorities, including WHO, have recommended abdominal girth to be less than 35 inches for men and less than 31 inches for women of the South Asian region.

This is based on scientific studies that have shown that abdominal visceral fat is a strong factor that causes diseases like diabetes-mellitus, glucose-intolerance, hypertension, atherosclerosis, ischemic heart disease, strokes and dyslipidemia, leading to premature deaths. Abdominal obesity is termed apple-shaped obesity while obesity confined to lower extremities common in women, called pear-shaped obesity, is not a risk factor for these disorders. Likewise, excess of subcutaneous fat as is present in sumo Japanese wrestlers does not contribute to the risk. A person with a large abdominal girth not only looks physically ugly but is susceptible to high morbidity and mortality. Therefore, the directive should be rationale-based on the scientific evidence, i.e. abdominal girth should be less than 35 for men and 31 for women.

DR MAHMUD AHMAD AKHTAR

Rawalpindi