Abdominal obesity and disease are linked to social position

Editor—In their discussion of diet as an important mediator of socioeconomic differences in health, James et al point to abdominal obesity as a biological factor responsible for the excess of cardiovascular disease and diabetes among groups of lower socioeconomic status.1 They suggest that this fits for women but not men, citing results from a survey centred on Glasgow that found no social gradient in the prevalence of abdominal obesity among men.2 However, other surveys in Britain, and from other industrialised countries, have found a …