Many of us are aware of the apple (belly fat) and pear body shapes (fat around hips and thighs) for men and women respectively. But how many are aware that, being a pear or an apple may be detrimental to our health!

Body fat is stored energy, if you consume more energy than you use, it is stored as fat around the body, mostly under the skin. Where we store our excess energy is important. Fat distributed above the belt line (abdominal fat) is associated with greater mortality (death) and morbidity (illness) than if it is stored below the waistline (thigh and buttocks fat). The closer that stored fat is to the heart and lungs, the increased activity or use of that fat, which in turn increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. In other words, the abdominal fat is more likely to be used in processes by the heart and lungs.

Men tend to store their excess energy around the abdomen and thus are generally an 'apple' body shape. In contrast women tend to store their excess energy around their hips and buttocks and thus have a tendency to be a 'pear' shape. Consequently, men have a greater risk of fat related disease and women have a lower risk. However, for women body shape can change after menopause to an 'apple'. This is due to hormonal changes (in particular a reduction in oestrogen), therefore altering where the fat is stored.

There is a healthy range for body fat, however if you have too much then it raises your risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, gallstones and some cancers. To much body fat also slows you down, is detrimental to regulating body heat and increase your risk of injury.

There are two common measures to assess your risk of disease. The first is comparing your waist circumference with your hip circumference (waist to hip ratio), and secondly you can measure your waist circumference alone. For men, if their waist to hip ratio is greater than 1 or for women if it is greater than 0.9, this is classed as high risk to increased mortality and morbidity. When looking at waist circumference alone, high risk is classed when a circumference is greater than 102cm for men and greater than 88cm for women.

Physical activity is the key! Physical activity will help reduce our risk to high levels of body fat and in particular the apple shape. In addition, physical activity reduces our risk of:

• high blood pressure
• diabetes
• high levels of cholesterol
• reduces stress hormones
• some cancers

Physical activity also increases our level of fitness and improves HDL (good cholesterol) and LDL (bad cholesterol) ratio. Our body is built to move, but these days changes to technology mean we have fewer opportunities to move in our daily activities. This has been called our "obesogenic environment" where it is more normal to put on weight.

Every year we do a little less than before. From the day we leave school, the average Australian puts on one gram of fat per day until they reach 70. This is all stored energy, which equates to a bigger apple or pear! The physical activity recommendation for health benefits is to find and enjoy a moderate intensity activity, for 30 minutes duration on most days of the week. This in turn will decrease the amount of stored energy and reduce the likelihood of turning into an apple.

For more information on body composition or physical activity go to www.lifestylemedicine.net.au.

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