Expanding waistlines and metabolic syndrome: Researchers warn of new 'silent killer'

For decades, American waistlines have been expanding and there is increasing cause for alarm. Researchers from the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University make the case that metabolic syndrome -- a cluster of three or more risk factors that include abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, high blood pressure, abnormal lipids, and insulin resistance, a precursor of type 2 diabetes -- is the new "silent killer," analogous to hypertension in the 1970s. As it turns out, the "love handle" can be fatal.

 How yoga can help to manage metabolic syndrome

People who practice yoga — who are also known, at least in the Western world, as "yogis" — always rave about how yoga could benefit the body and mind. But what does the science say? A new study investigates, focusing on how yoga affects people with metabolic syndrome.

The Metabolic Syndrome: Some Second Thoughts?

How useful are the existing definitions of the metabolic syndrome for predicting CVD risk? Is there a common underlying pathophysiological process that can explain the syndrome? Does treatment of the metabolic syndrome differ from the treatment of its individual components? Simply put, does a metabolic syndrome exist distinct from its constituent components?

What is Metabolic Syndrome?

In and of itself, MetS is not a disease. It is simply an enormous warning sign that there's trouble ahead. But just like the highway department posts warning signs in time for drivers to avoid danger, a diagnosis of MetS can alert us in time for us to change course and avoid disease.

10 Things Your Doctor Won’t Tell You About Metabolic Syndrome

The good news is that with changes to diet and exercise, you can prevent, control, or even reverse metabolic syndrome. If you don’t, you could develop significant health risks related to the diabetes, heart disease, and stroke as part of the condition. Your risk for metabolic syndrome increases with age, so it’s important to start adjusting your health habits early on.

Does The Mediterranean Diet Really 'Reverse' Metabolic Syndrome?

“I am excited that this analysis was done to add to the body of nutrition science, but jumping to the causal conclusion … is too strong,” says Brown. “The last thing we need in nutrition is unbounded optimism about particular diets. People seem to be getting a bit disillusioned with grandiose health claims about the influence of foods, diets, and supplements that come out of single studies.”

From the metabolic syndrome to NAFLD or vice versa?

The metabolic syndrome encompasses metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors which predict diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) better than any of its individual components. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) comprises a disease spectrum which includes variable degrees of simple steatosis (nonalcoholic fatty liver, NAFL), nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and cirrhosis. NAFLD is the hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome, with insulin resistance as the main pathogenetic mechanism.

Metabolic Syndrome, Research, and Race

Scientists who study the lifestyle disorder must do a better job of incorporating political and social science into their work.

Metabolic syndrome: Toxicology's next patient

The concept of this complex syndrome was first introduced by Gerald M. Raven during the Banting Medal Address during the 1988 American Diabetes Association meeting. He proposed that cardiovascular risk was high among insulin-resistant, hyperinsulinemic individuals who were glucose intolerant and who exhibited a collection of other risk factors, such as increased levels of plasma triglyceride, low HDL-cholesterol, and essential hypertension. He called the collection of these factors Syndrome X...

The serious health risks of metabolic syndrome

“Am I going to get diabetes — like my father — and die of a heart attack?” asked the 53-year-old high school math teacher, a patient of Marvin M. Lipman, Consumer Reports’ chief medical adviser. “I’ve looked this up online, and the outlook isn’t good.” He was referring to the metabolic syndrome, a diagnosis made a week earlier after a physical exam showed that he was overweight (with a waistline well over 40 inches) and hypertensive (with a systolic blood pressure over 160 and a diastolic over 90).

Why Do Nearly 37 Percent of Women Have This Syndrome?

If you've never heard of metabolic syndrome, you're probably not alone. It’s a term often used in medical journals and doctor-speak, but it is worth knowing about. A national health report found that 33 percent of adults have the condition, with women more affected than men.