About half of the adult population in Taiwan have a “large” waist circumference, which is linked to diabetes risk, the Taiwan Millennium Health Foundation told a news conference in Taipei yesterday, citing a National Health Research Institutes study.
People should maintain a healthy waist size and healthy habits to prevent metabolic syndrome, said the foundation, which is commissioned by the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) and the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA).
The HPA’s 2017-2020 Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan showed that 52.9 percent of women and 47.2 percent of men aged 20 or older had a large waist circumference, defined as 80cm or more for women and 90cm or more for men, the foundation said.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
Metabolic syndrome — having three or more of five conditions: the “three highs” of high blood pressure, high blood sugar and high blood lipid (triglyceride), as well as a large waist circumference (abdominal obesity) and low “good” cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein) — increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes, the HPA said.
The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in adults has been increasing, with the HPA survey showing it to be about 30.3 percent in women and 39.3 percent in men, and nearly 60 percent for people aged 65 to 74, said Chung Ren-hua (鍾仁華), a researcher at the National Health Research Institutes’ Institute of Population Health Sciences.
Chung said that his research team used data from about 46,000 people who registered with Taiwan Biobank from 2012 to 2020 to study the five conditions and their association to chronic hypertension, hyperlipidemia, stroke, diabetes and coronary heart disease.
A large waist circumference was second in terms pf correlation to the development of chronic hypertension, stroke, diabetes and coronary heart disease, Chung said, adding that it also doubled the risk of developing diabetes.
Among the five conditions, a large waist circumference was the simplest indicator to observe, he said.
The research team found that people who maintained a healthy waist size were more likely to improve the other four conditions, he added.
HPA Director-General Wu Chao-chun (吳昭軍) said the agency launched a metabolic syndrome prevention program in 2022, with more than 220,000 people having participated, and about 20 percent reversing their conditions.
“You do not have to be over-concerned if you have a large waist circumference, because you can get a health assessment, consult a doctor and improve your condition by changing life habits, such as sticking to a low-sugar, low-sodium diet or other measures, based on your condition,” Wu said.
NHIA Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said that people should keep track of their waist circumference and other indicators in the NHIA’s “My Health Bank” (健康存摺) mobile app, which has a dedicated section to help identify possible metabolic syndrome.
People can also search for clinics that have joined the metabolic syndrome prevention program and seek medical advice to manage their risk of the “three highs” and metabolic syndrome as early as possible, Shih said.
The foundation said that it and the two agencies have launched an online event (https://event.1000-love.org.tw/prevent-MES), in which people can enter a lottery to win prizes if they complete three tasks, including keeping a record of their waist circumference in the My Health Bank app.
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