What is Metabolic Syndrome?
The definition of metabolic syndrome is an accumulation of symptoms that are associated with an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease.
A person suffering from metabolic syndrome generally has at least two of the following symptoms:
- Being Overweight
- Hypertension
- High blood lipid levels
- Pre-diabetic borderline glucose levels
- Insulin Resistance
Metabolic Syndrome: Risk Factors
What increases the risk of developing this syndrome? What are its health effects, and how is this syndrome treated?
What causes people to be at increased risk of developing this syndrome? The modern lifestyle is rich in fats and carbohydrates and is characterized by a sedentary lifestyle.
The following list names the risk factors for developing metabolic syndrome:
- A sedentary lifestyle
- Having a BMI over 25
- A diet rich in saturated and trans fats and/or carbohydrates
- Diabetes
- Underlying Heart Disease
- Being over 50
- Testosterone Deficiency
- Smoking and drinking lots of alcohol
- Stress
- Post-menopausal women
- African Americans and Mexican Americans
Health Effects of Metabolic Syndrome
A diagnosis of metabolic syndrome is recipe for developing chronic diseases down the line. Patients with metabolic syndrome have a two-thirds increased chance of having a cardiovascular event such as a heart attack or heart failure. By making substantial lifestyle changes to diet and incorporating a mild weekly exercise regiment of 4 times a week of 45 minutes of aerobic exercise, a metabolic syndrome patient minimizes the long-term risks of the syndrome from worsening.
Treatment of Metabolic Syndrome
Treatment for metabolic syndrome includes the following lifestyle changes:
- Change of diet
- Quitting smoking
- Losing weight to maintain a BMI below 25
- Physical exercise several times a week
- Medication in cases wher there is no noticeable improvement after a few months of being diagnosed
Drug Treatment for Metabolic Syndrome
When treating metabolic syndrome, there are generally two methods used, comprehensive treatment or focused treatment of the symptoms:
- Comprehensive treatment targets all underlying symptoms of metabolic syndrome, for example, testosterone therapy helps reduce the symptoms of the metabolic syndrome for a man diagnosed as having low testosterone levels.
- Targeted treatment that helps a treat a specific probem of metabolic syndrom, for example, the use of a cholesterol-lowering medication to combat high cholesterol levels or the use of a weight loss medication to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight.
