In comparison, carrying excess fat around the stomach, being "apple shaped", raises the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

BBC: Having a big bum, hips and thighs 'is healthy'

Asian people appear to be particularly at risk because they have a tendency to collect fat in the stomach area, where it is thought to have the most significant impact on health.

BBC: Obesity epidemic tops 1.7bn

In the company of Emma McCune, misguided though she might have seemed to some, Ms Scroggins takes the reader by the hand into the hot dust of southern Sudan and the politics of the belly, where black meets white, rich meets poor and the fat white paunch of the West gets to look upon starving Africa's distended stomach.

ECONOMIST: Africa is a continent made for��and of��storytellers