The easy way to check if you are overweight

There is an easy test which can quickly help people determine if they might need to shed a few kilos – particularly from their abdominal region.

The only item necessary for the examination, demonstrated by nutritional consultant Dr Margaret Ashwell on the BBC documentary The Truth About Obesity, is a piece of string.

The first step might require the help of another person, but is simply measuring your height with the string and creating a length the same as your height.

Secondly, fold that piece of string in half.

Then, wrap the folded portion around your waist to see if you can make the ends reach one another in the middle.

According to Dr Ashwell those who struggle to make the folded string reach all the way around their stomach are at greater risk of other health problems.

Dr Ashwall also said when people have more “dangerous internal fat” their waist to height ratio increases. She says the test can be more helpful than a body mass index calculation [BMI].

‘BMI doesn’t measure fat distribution. What we now know is it’s the internal fat which wraps around the heart, the liver, the pancreas and that raises the risk factors for heart disease and blood pressure.’ Dr Ashwell explained.

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According to the documentary the nutritional consultant found that a quarter of people with a BMI within normal range did not pass the string test.