Experts ‘concerned’ over new waist-to-height measurement guidance from NICE

Sign up to our free Living Well email for advice on living a happier, healthier and longer life Live your life healthier and happier with our free weekly Living Well newsletter Live your life healthier and happier with our free weekly Living Well newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Eating disorder charities and counsellors have expressed concerns over new draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence which encourages people to make sure their waist measurement is less than half their height “to reduce the risk of potential health problems”. “Waist measurements do not solely determine whether somebody is healthy or not, and we are concerned that calculating the waist-to-height ratio will encourage people with eating disorders to engage in harmful behaviours in order to lose weight or change their body shape,” Tom Quinn, Beat’s director of external affairs, told The Independent. “We also know from the people we support that a fixation on body shape can contribute to an eating disorder developing for somebody who is already vulnerable to these serious mental illnesses.” Harriet Frew, an accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy is worried that the guidance could “exacerbate negative body image and perpetuate disordered eating behaviours”. “People suffering from eating disorders will already focus disproportionately on their body image, as a measure of self-worth and may already be engaging in compulsive body checking behaviours daily,” she said.