A large waist circumference can lead to increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, but a survey showed that up to 46.8 percent of respondents had not measured their waist in the past year, the Taiwan Millennium Health Foundation said on Monday as it announced the launch of its annual waist measurement health awareness campaign.
The foundation and the Health Promotion Administration hold “89 Waist Measurement Day” on or around Aug. 9, with the month and date numbers to remind people to keep a healthy waist size — below 80cm for women and below 90cm for men.
Foundation chairman Wayne Sheu (許惠恒) said this year is the 16th campaign since it was launched in 2006.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
About 70 percent of people are aware of the “80cm and 90cm” healthy waistline standard, but 46.8 percent did not measure their waist in the past year, Sheu said, citing a foundation survey.
Given the results, the foundation collaborated with the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA), adding a new feature to its NHI Express App that reminds people to keep a log of their waist measurements.
NHIA Director-General Lee Po-chang (李伯璋) said the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids and high blood sugar — are common health issues among adults, so the NHIA in June launched a metabolic syndrome prevention program.
As the NHI Express App has been downloaded more than 20 million times, the NHIA hopes it will become a “health passbook,” Lee said.
HPA Deputy Director Wei Shi-lun (魏璽倫) said that among the approximately 1.9 million people who in 2020 underwent the government-funded adult preventive health examination for adults aged 40 or older, more than 60 percent had a waist circumference exceeding 80cm or 90cm and metabolic syndrome.
Chan Ding-cheng (詹鼎正), director of National Taiwan University Hospital’s Department of Geriatrics and Gerontology, said that the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome is made when a person meets three of five criteria: a large waist circumference; blood pressure of 130/85 millimeters of mercury or higher; a fasting blood glucose level of 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) or more, or the person is taking glucose-lowering medication; a triglyceride level of 150mg/dL or more; and a high-density lipoprotein level less than 40mg/dL for men or less than 50mg/dL for women.
A large waist circumference suggests an excess of abdominal visceral fat, which can lead to increased risk of cancer, dementia and cardiovascular diseases, Chan said.
Studies suggest that the risk of developing cardiovascular disease increases by 2 percent for each 1cm of waist circumference, while the risk of death is increased by 17 percent in men and by 13 percent in women for each 5cm, he said.
People with a healthy waist circumference should measure it at least once per year, while those with a large waist circumference should do so every week, he said, adding that the records can be kept using the NHI Express App.
The foundation in cooperation with Uni-President Group has a program to distribute free measuring tapes at more than 1,300 locations of the corporation’s 16 distribution channels, including 7-Eleven convenience stores, Starbucks coffee shops and Carrefour supermarkets.
People can enter a lottery on the foundation’s Web site to win cash certificates by logging their waist circumference on NHI Express App before Sunday next week.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
President William Lai (賴清德) today condemned an alleged attempt by two Chinese to snatch a letter of congratulations handed to Taiwan’s taekwondo team after they won silver at the Summer World University Games in Essen, Germany, yesterday. A Chinese man and woman reportedly tried to snatch a congratulatory letter to athletes Hung Jiun-yi (洪俊義), Jung Jiun-jie (鍾俊傑) and Huang Cho-cheng (黃卓乘) from the Ministry of Education, and then argued with media employees. “Why are you taking our things?” the media employees asked. “Does that say Chinese Taipei?” the two Chinese reportedly said. Following the incident, Sports Administration Director-General Cheng Shih-chung (鄭世忠) wrote on