Your Diet and Type 2 Diabetes continued
What you need to know about Metabolic Syndrome
Metabolic Syndrome is a condition characterized by a group of diagnostic test findings, including elevated blood glucose levels, high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, high blood pressure, and obesity.
Metabolic syndrome is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, heart attack, and stroke.
About one in four U.S. adults has metabolic syndrome, according to a report in the October 2004 issue of Diabetes Care. An earlier study of 6,436 men and women, using data from 1988 to 1994, revealed that just over 24% of Americans age 20 and older met the criteria for metabolic syndrome.
In the current study, researchers looked at data collected between 1999 and 2000 on 1,677 people. They found that U.S. adults were growing worse, not better, as the century drew to a close, with more than 27% of Americans diagnosed with metabolic syndrome.
Especially high was the number of women with the syndrome, which increased by 24% between the two study periods compared with a 2% rise among men.
Increased waist circumference, high triglycerides, and high blood pressure accounted for much of the increase in women.
Overall, the researchers estimate that 64 million U.S. adults now have metabolic syndrome.
To stop any further rise, the investigators in the study urge “comprehensive approaches for improving nutrition and physical activity habits that target both individuals and the population.”
Type 2 Diabetes is the most common type of diabetes. Type 2 Diabetes develops when the pancreas cannot make enough insulin to overcome the body’s resistance to insulin action. Metabolic syndrome is believed to be a form of pre-diabetes.
Diabetes has numerous side effects related to it, ranging from kidney damage (nephropathy), to nerve damage (neuropathy), to blindness (diabetic retinopathy), as well as heart disease and severe circulatory problems that can result in lower limb amputation.
In Diet and Disease Prevention Part 12, you will learn more about the specific dietary recommendations to ward off diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
