Medical professionals warn that neck circumference may be the next major indicator of cardiac disease: "BMI is insufficient..."

One of the most prevalent markers of heart disease is obesity. Body Mass Index, or BMI, is used to determine if a person's weight is within a healthy range. This BMI score now provides information about your risk of cardiovascular problems. However, this is not the end of the story since a new signal is starting to appear that is more effective than BMI and delivers information that you may have missed to your attention.

Neck circumference may offer useful information that BMI could be overlooking, according to Dr. Partha Prateem Choudhury, a consultant cardiologist at Kailash Hospital in Noida. Although BMI provides a broad estimate of body weight, it is unable to pinpoint the precise location of fat storage. In this case, the neck circumference provides additional information regarding the fat in the upper body.

The quantity of upper body subcutaneous fat—the layer of fat directly beneath the skin—is reflected in neck circumference. The cardiologist explained why this kind of fat is more harmful by saying that it is more metabolically active than fat in other regions, which means that it influences hormones, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels.