Japanese Mandate – under 33 inch waist line

Posted by abby on Jun 13, 2008 in News | 0 comments

This is really interesting:

The New York Times reports that in Japan, “under a national law that came into effect two months ago, companies and local governments must now measure the waistlines of Japanese people between the ages of 40 and 74 as part of their annual checkups.

“Those exceeding government limits – 33.5 inches for men and 35.4 inches for women, and having a weight related ailment will be given dieting guidance if after three months they do not lose weight. If necessary, they will be steered toward further re-education after six more months.”

The government will impose financial penalties on companies and local governments that fail to achieve targets for reducing the overweight population.

Yet the Japanese are nowhere near as overweight as Americans. The average waste size for American men is 39 inches, 36.5 for women. It is 32.8 for Japanese men and 28 inches for women.

Read More here. While I am not sure that the government should be monitoring the people’s waste lines I do see insurance companies should start doing something similar. Of course there is more to being health than having a slim waist, but it is a good starting point.