A new report into the association of men’s health and their waist size has revealed that British men underestimate their waist sizes by a staggering 2.1 inches – with the average English waist now reaching 37.9 inches and the average Scottish waist measuring 38 inches. The British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK and Diabetes UK have joined forces to launch their ‘Active Fat’ campaign to raise awareness that an expanding waistline is a risk factor for heart disease, cancer and Type 2 diabetes.

Fat cells around the middle produce hormones and chemicals that can cause disease. Men are ‘at risk’ if their waist creeps past 37 inches, a concern as the average male waist is already past this benchmark. Waist sizes that stray above 40 inches are considered ‘high risk’ and nearly a third of English men and just over a third of Scottish men are considered in this category, however, alarmingly only 16% of men surveyed admit to being in that category.

This underestimation can be partially credited to the fact that nearly nine out of ten men did not know how to measure their waists, with nearly half (47%) believing they can get away with measuring just above their hips. Shockingly, over one in five (21%) of men can’t actually recall the last time they measured their waist.

As well as people with a larger waist being up to 11 times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes and having over twice the risk of heart attack, it also increases the risk of cancer, with scientists estimating that the current number of people who are overweight and obese could lead to around 19,000 cases of cancer a year. If this wasn’t enough of a clear sign that things must change, research also suggests that 10,300 cases of cancer could be prevented each year if the BMI of every adult did not exceed 25.