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Metabolic Syndrome
By peace | November 20, 2006
Metabolic syndrome is a collection of health risks that increase your chance of developing heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. The condition is also known by other names including Syndrome X, insulin resistance syndrome, and dysmetabolic syndrome. According to a national health survey, more than one in five Americans has metabolic syndrome. The number of people with metabolic syndrome increases with age, affecting more than 40 percent of people in their 60s and 70s.
The metabolic syndrome is characterized by a group of metabolic risk factors in one person. They include:
* Abdominal obesity (excessive fat tissue in and around the abdomen)
* Atherogenic dyslipidemia (blood fat disorders — high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol and high LDL cholesterol — that foster plaque buildups in artery walls)
* Elevated blood pressure
* Insulin resistance or glucose intolerance (the body can’t properly use insulin or blood sugar)
* Prothrombotic state (e.g., high fibrinogen or plasminogen activator inhibitor–1 in the blood)
* Proinflammatory state (e.g., elevated C-reactive protein in the blood)
People with the metabolic syndrome are at increased risk of coronary heart disease and other diseases related to plaque buildups in artery walls (e.g., stroke and peripheral vascular disease) and type 2 diabetes. The metabolic syndrome has become increasingly common in the United States. It’s estimated that over 50 million Americans have it.
The dominant underlying risk factors for this syndrome appear to be abdominal obesity and insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a generalized metabolic disorder, in which the body can’t use insulin efficiently. This is why the metabolic syndrome is also called the insulin resistance syndrome.
According to the American Heart Association, three groups of people often have metabolic syndrome:
* People with diabetes who cannot maintain a proper level of glucose (glucose intolerance)
* People without diabetes who have high blood pressure and who also secrete large amounts of insulin (hyperinsulinemia) to maintain blood glucose levels
* Heart attack survivors who have hyperinsulinemia without glucose intolerance
Other conditions associated with the syndrome include physical inactivity, aging, hormonal imbalance and genetic predisposition.
Some people are genetically predisposed to insulin resistance. Acquired factors, such as excess body fat and physical inactivity, can elicit insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome in these people. Most people with insulin resistance have abdominal obesity. The biologic mechanisms at the molecular level between insulin resistance and metabolic risk factors aren’t fully understood and appear to be complex.
Signs And Symptoms of Metabolic Syndrome
Having metabolic syndrome means you have several disorders related to your metabolism at the same time, including:
* Obesity, particularly around your waist (having an “apple shape”)
* Elevated blood pressure
* An elevated level of the blood fat called triglycerides and a low level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol — the “good” cholesterol
* Resistance to insulin, a hormone that helps to regulate the amount of sugar in your body
Having one component of metabolic syndrome means you’re more likely to have others. And the more components you have, the greater are the risks to your health.
One study showed that men with three factors of metabolic syndrome are nearly twice as likely to have a heart attack or stroke and more than three times as likely to develop heart disease as are those with no factors.
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