Experts say they really don t tell us much, after all. Women carry fat differently than men, and it means different things for health.
Men tend to put on the pounds around the waist.
It s called central obesity, and can lead to serious problems. Johns Hopkin researchers use MRI scanners to map out such fatty deposits in patients. Dr. Kerry Stewart says it paints a much clearer picture of the possible consequences of being overweight. If we can continue to show that visceral fat is more predictive of chronic health problems, such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, then we should be using more precise instruments to measure fat than just a simple BMI, which doesn t really give us a lot of information. Dr. Stewart says the trick is where they re aimed.