Waist to hip ratio

I'm posting about this because things health-related interest me (remember salt?), and because a while back I mentioned it to some friends (at my easycinema evening? I think I need another one) and one very lovely person told me to post about it when I got some time.

I read about this back about January time in Metro, and now I can't find the Metro link. However I found something on the LSE website about it, so here you go. The story in Metro (the Beano for commuters) was basically that some bunch of scientists had worked out the waist to hip ratio of pretty much most of the Playboy models over the past 50 years and apparently they all have a waist:hip of 0.7 or as near as dammit! I gave up trying to find the Metro article when I found this (v old) report - incredibly interesting and I strongly suggest you read it just for some fun. Here, I'll link to it again for you.

Some salient points to make you reach for your tape-measures - Men are better with a ratio nearer 8.5 or 9 (the author of the report notes). Whether you're a man or a woman if your ratio is in excess of 1 (i.e. waist measurement larger than hips) you're at greater risk of all kinds of health issues.

Kelly Brook has a ratio of 0.705.

So now that we can empirically measure beauty, I'm going to go and buy a tape-measure. Go on, measure yours... If you don't know how to then this site has a good guide (how hard can it be; slimmest bit of waist, fattest bit of hips) and if you don't have a calculator it will even work it out for you.