Metabolic syndrome is a term that has come up quite a bit in some of my blogs, and I thought that it may be prudent to take some time to fully explain what this really is.
The National Cholesterol Education Program’s Adult Treatment Panel III report (ATP III) defines the metabolic syndrome a multifactorial risk factor for cardivascular disease that includes 6 components:
- Abdominal obesity–the tendency to carry more weight in your midsection than other areas of your body
- Atherogenic dyslipidemia–unhealthy proportions of lipids. It can be too many, or too few of the “good” lipids to the proportion of “bad” lipids
- Raised blood pressure–this doesn’t necessarily have to be the classification of hypertensive range blood pressure
- Insulin resistence +/- glucose intolerance–this doesn’t necessarily have to be the classification of diabetes mellitus type 2, but this is what causes diabetes mellitus type 2
- Proinflammatory state–a state caused by a number of things, including increased adiposity (too many fat cells). This can be checked by a CRP value.
- Prothrobotic state–this is the state of a body wanting to clot too readily. It’s why people are told to take aspirin.
Definitions for each of these vary, depending on the source you are using. The main thing is in recent years, you are seeing more and more people talk about insulin resistance and adiposity as being major drivers in metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome is beginning to be connected to many different health problems. I recently gave a talk connecting it to gynecologic health issues, in addition to it’s cardiovascular implications.
Medicine is looking for drug targets to help prevent morbidity and mortality from metabolic syndrome. However, many of these risk factors can be modified through a healthy lifestyle.
Eat well: remember the healthy plate! Healthful diets are the cornerstone of health! Good nutrition and appropriate nutrient balance are ways we try to keep our bodies at a healthy weight and prevent the maladaptive hormone balance that happens when our bodies have excess adipose tissue–the changes that lead to metabolic syndrome. You can consider a plant-based diet, which is one of the most evidence based diets, or if you are at the other end of the spectrum, low-carb, or keto may be reasonable options. Just do something!
Move as much as possible: exercise of at least 150 minutes of moderate cardio weekly, plus strength and flexibility training, is considered an active lifestyle. I say start where you start! If that’s a 10 minute walk daily or 30 minutes once weekly, its better than 0. You want to move as much as possible,because, in addition to all the other benefits, it helps maintain a healthy body weight, reduces insulin resistance, lowers blood pressure, reduces inflammation (any one noticing a theme)–it basically reverses metabolic syndrome!! So get moving people–dance in your living room, go for a walk with your family, ride your bike, go for a swim–just move! And remember, your change doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be changing. That’s it.
