How safe is your shape?

If you're one of those who can't help but look in the mirror every morning and bemoan your shape, there's good and bad news.

The bad news is there's little you can do about it - new research shows if you have a big bottom or a big waist, it's all down to your genes. The good news is your shape is a great predictor for your future health - problems you will encounter and illnesses you might be prone to - revealing the preventative measures you can start taking now.

If you are not sure what shape you are, you can easily work it out. Take your waist and hip measurements (around the widest part of hips and buttocks) in either centimetres or inches.

Divide the waist measurement by the hip measurement. If the result is less than 0.85, this is a pear shape. If the figure is above 0.85, this is an apple shape. So which shape are you and what does it reveal about your health?

The apple

This shape is most likely to develop with age. It bears the classic appearance of the middle-age spread, with weight around the stomach giving a barrel-like tummy and narrow hips.

Think of Dawn French, Victoria Wood and Sophie Dahl. But being slightly apple-shaped is not a risk to health. If the circumference of your waist is less than half your height, you don't need to worry.

Life expectancy: Studies show that women with this shape are more likely to die prematurely from a range of health problems. This is thought to be due to how the body deals with fat deposits in different parts of the body.

Heart: Fat around the stomach is constantly broken down and circulated in the blood, triggering health problems such as heart disease. This puts apples at a greater risk from the killer disease, as well as high blood pressure

Thighs: Plump thighs are part of the normal female apple shape, provided your waist size is within limits. If your thighs are thin, you may be underweight and at risk of fertility problems or the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis.

Waist: US researchers calculate women with a waist measurement of 30 inches or more have twice the risk of developing coronary heart disease than their slimmer counterparts. The average British woman's waist size is 32 inches. Men with a 37-inch waist are at an increased risk of health problems.

Diabetes: Obese people with an apple shape are especially prone to diabetes and high blood pressure. An excess of hormones called glucocorticoids, which influence metabolism, is thought to be involved.

Stomach: This shape tends to crave starchy, flour-based foods, such as bread, as well as high-fat spicy foods and salty wheat snacks. This body type is also prone to diabetes, strokes, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and digestive problems, constipation and water retention. Nutritionist Jay Cooper, author of the Body Code Diet, says: "Often this body type benefits from cutting wheat from their diet, as this mediates blood-sugar levels and also lessens bloating. They are better suited to a high-protein diet."

Fitness: Nutrition scientist Sarah Schenker from the British Nutrition Foundation says: " Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do to influence which areas you can gain or lose weight from. Exercise can help tone up specific muscle groups and physical activity will help burn fat." Aerobic exercise (running, swimming, cycling) will help to reduce the layer of fat apples are prone to.

Men: Most men who put on weight tend to carry it around their upper abdomen, increasing the risk of heart disease. The classic beer-belly shape stores fat around internal organs, which is then thought to mobilise into the blood stream and raise levels of harmful cholesterol.

The Pear

Jennifer Lopez and Marilyn Monroe are classic pears - slim-waisted but prone to accumulating fat around the hips, bottom and thighs.

General health: Women with a hip measurement of 40.5 inches or more tend to suffer less ill health than their slimmer counterparts. Dr Tim Spector of the Twin Research Unit at St Thomas' Hospital says: "Storing fat on the bottom is good for you as it is broken down slowly and is less likely to travel around the body than fat stored around the stomach."

Heart: Women with larger hips and more weight on their bottom and thighs are less likely to suffer heart attacks, angina, diabetes, high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease, accordinging to a recent 25-year study by researchers at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

Osteoporosis: There is also evidence that a larger derriere puts women at less risk of osteoporosis. This is thought to be because of the different ways the body deals with fat deposits in different parts of the body.

Cellulite: It's not all good news for pears. Carrying extra weight on the hips and thighs means that pears are far more likely to have cellulite.

Fertility: Pear-shaped women with big hips are twice as fertile. Tests involving 500 women aged between 20 and 42 showed pregnancy rates twice as high among the pears than the apples.

Cancer: Although heart conditions and strokes are rarer among pear shapes, they are more prone to ovarian cancer, breast cysts and endometriosis.

Longevity: Again, the pear shape comes out best. According to US research, the bigger the waist in comparison with the hips, the higher the death risk.

Diet: Nutritionist Jay Cooper says pear-shaped physiques crave sweet, creamy and starchy foods.

They can benefit from cutting down on their fat intake.

Fitness: To streamline the thighs try exercises that work the major leg muscles, for example running, cycling or power walking.