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One third of women with a normal BMI rating face health risks, says survey

More than a third of women have too much body fat, even though their weight is ideal on the traditional Body Mass Index (BMI), according to a Watsons' survey.

The poll,  endorsed by the Chinese University of Hong Kong's school of pharmacy, showed that 34 per cent of women with an ideal height-to-weight ratio were actually overweight or obese in terms of body fat.

About 33 per cent of  the ideal BMI respondents also had high  cholesterol levels and 44 per cent had high-normal to high blood pressure.

A person's BMI is calculated by dividing their weight in kilograms by the square of their height in metres. A normal reading is between 18.5 and 22.99, overweight is 23-24.99 and obese 25-29.99

The Watsons' survey measured the body-fat content, cholesterol level, blood pressure and BMI of 511 women aged 20 and above, picked randomly from those who walked into one of the chain's pharmacies in July and last month.

'Many people think, 'I'm healthy, I have a normal BMI', - this is often not true. They can still have many health risks,' Watsons' director Margaret Lau Po-chu said.

High cholesterol, blood pressure and body fat often translated to high risks of developing  heart disease and diabetes, she said.

The findings came out as a survey by rival health and beauty chain Mannings showed women were spending 10 per cent more per month on skin care, slimming products and health supplements this year than last year.

When asked what they would spend less on in future, 41 per cent said slimming products. The research revealed  the 300 women surveyed, aged between 26 and 49, spent an average of $540 a month at health and beauty stores on skin care, slimming products and health supplements, a 10 per cent rise on last year.

The research, conducted through street interviews by Synovate, commissioned by Mannings and Cosmopolitan magazine, was conducted in the past few weeks.

The chief executive officer of Mannings Greater China, Caroline Mak, attributed part of the increase  to rising awareness of health and hygiene since the Sars outbreak. 'Since Sars we have recorded a continuing increase in sales of health and beauty products,' Ms Mak said.



Ideal weight can still mean you are too fat