Waist measurement: a better tool than BMI?

First of all, what is BMI? It stands for Body Mass Index. It's a calculation based on your weight and your height. The NHS has a calculator here. It is used by the NHS and UK doctors to determine if you have a weight problem. Values between 18.5 and 25 are OK, 25 - 30 is overweight, and 30+ is obese. 

This link is to an NPR article with 10 reasons why BMI is flawed. Flaw number 3 is here:

It [BMI] makes no allowance for the relative proportions of bone, muscle and fat in the body. But bone is denser than muscle and twice as dense as fat, so a person with strong bones, good muscle tone and low fat will have a high BMI. Thus, athletes and fit, health-conscious movie stars who work out a lot tend to find themselves classified as overweight or even obese.

My BMI is 21.4, supposedly healthy but the British Heart Foundation (BHF) has other ideas...

BHF advocates waist measurement as a better method of determining if you have unhealthy body fat, in particular visceral fat (fat around your internal organs like heart, kidneys, pancreas etc). There is a BHF calculator here, based on waist measurement (at one inch above navel, breathing out), gender, and ethnicity. My healthy waist size would be 37 inches or less but is in fact 39 inches (although I wear 34 inch jeans), resulting in the following warning:

You're at risk

Your waist measurement means that your weight could be affecting your health, and you're at higher risk of developing heart and circulatory diseases, and conditions such as Type 2 diabetes. Keeping to a healthy weight and carrying less fat around your middle will help to keep your heart healthy. We recommend that you check your BMI too, to find out if you're a healthy weight for your height.

So the NHS says I'm healthy ("Your result suggests you are a healthy weight") and at the same time the BHF says I'm at risk. I'm going with the BHF here and aiming to reduce my waist size to 36.5 inches. I'll keep you posted.

PS I went for a blood test at my GP's surgery this week. The nurse measured my blood pressure and my weight. I asked if they ever measure waist size. Apparently not; she said she'd look into it. My blood pressure looks like this:

PPS: Here's what a high risk waist measurement (44 inches) looks like:

PPPS: I didn't have a tape measure but found one on eBay, delivered within a few days, cost £1.09 including postage. How do they do that? It's less than a first class stamp...