metabolic syndrome

Metabolic syndrome is not a single disease but a cluster of risk factors that tend to travel together, like several warning lights flashing on a dashboard at the same time. Each one is a hazard on its own, but appearing together they signal an engine — the body's metabolism — that is running badly and heading toward diabetes and heart disease.

The diagnosis is made when a person has several of the following: increased waist circumference (central obesity), elevated blood pressure, high fasting blood glucose, high triglycerides, and low HDL (“good”) cholesterol. The common thread tying them together is thought to be insulin resistance, often combined with excess visceral fat acting as an inflammatory, hormone-secreting tissue.

Having metabolic syndrome substantially raises the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The cornerstone of management is reversing the underlying drivers — weight loss, physical activity, and dietary change — which can improve all of the components at once, with medications added to control individual risk factors as needed.