Waist circumference. Waist circumference is a sign of either visceral (belly) fat, liver fat, or both. All the diseases of metabolic syndrome are associated with increased waist circumference—even in normal weight people—and so waist circumference is much more sensitive for disease risk than is BMI; in fact, waist circumference is increasing faster than BMI in the population, because it’s the visceral fat that’s going up more than the subcutaneous fat.
