Men who sat back and passed judgment on the voluptuous women in their lives after reading Cape Argus stories about large women should read on carefully.
Fat men with typical "beer boeps" should be very worried - they're a far bigger health risk than women who tend to carry excess weight on their hips and thighs.
On Monday, the Cape Argus reported that an assessment of the health of Capetonians by the Sports Science Institute of South Africa found that local women over 40 were too fat.
Researchers found that a high proportion of the women tested, aged 40 and older, had "very high" body fat, some as high as 46 percent of total mass.
In general, body fat of more than 30 percent is associated with increased risk for chronic diseases of lifestyle, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.
Now, just as local men began resting on their laurels, experts have taken a shot at them too.
Sports scientist and health promotions manager at the Sports Science Institute Kathy McQuaide said the position of your fat is all important.
Generally, fat accumulates either around the waist (common in men), or on the hips and legs, which is more common in women. These are responsible for the labels apple or pear-shaped respectively.
And, McQuaide said, the "boep" is far more worrying than "pear-shaped" fat, because it increases the risk of heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and stroke.
Checking risk, she suggested, was as easy as taking your waist measurement:
- Men: waist measurements under 94cm are at average risk, those between 94 and 101,9cm are at increased risk, and men with waist measurements bigger than 102cm are at "substantial risk".
- Women: women with waists measuring less than 80cm are at average risk, those between 80 and 87,9cm are at increased risk, and those with waist measurements bigger than 88cm are at substantial risk.
If you want to get started on reducing that circumference, McQuaide suggested losing weight via exercise and a low-fat diet, with controlled portion sizes and calorie control.
Among black women, an extensive study of more than 13 000 people in the Obesity Research Journal revealed they viewed high body weight as a reflection of prosperity and "health".
Many did not consider themselves overweight, and did not want to lose weight because they feared people may suspect they had HIV and Aids, or were poor.
To prove the difference in fat intake compared with black women in the 1940s, McQuaide pointed to a study that showed that in a traditional diet at that time, fat comprised about 16 percent of total calories consumed daily. In the 1990s, fat intake in an urban African community
had increased to 26 percent of total calories.
Conversely, she said, many westernised women had a distorted body image, and considered themselves overweight when they were perfectly healthy and of normal weight.
McQuaide said the emphasis needed to be holistic, focusing on health rather than what the reading was on the scale.
"Up to 70 percent of urban South Africans don't do enough exercise to derive health benefits. Everyone needs to assess their lifestyle choices, see what needs changing, decide how to do it, and then make small, sustainable changes that can be maintained.
"Within weeks you'll notice the difference that small changes make, and in months you'll probably feel like a different person," she said.