According to the American Heart Association, 34 million American had metabolic syndrome just a few years ago. That is about one out of every six adults or 47 million people. Today, in 2024, those numbers have increased to 113 million people or about a third of Americans. Metabolic Syndrome is not a type of disease but rather a “cluster of conditions” that are associated with a persons metabolism. Metabolic syndrome is also known as syndrome X or insulin resistance syndrome. The associated conditions that you should be aware of can be seen below.
Keep an Eye on These Six Metrics
1. Extra fat covering your abdominal area.
2. Low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL).
3. Higher than normal blood pressure.
4. Blood that clots too easily.
5. Problems with the way your body processes insulin.
6. High levels of fats in your blood.
If you have three or more of the conditions listed above, your physician will let you know, and it’s important that you exercise regularly and work on keeping your bodyweight down via exercise and a healthy diet. Speaking of healthy, sustainable diets, there is a great deal of research showing the benefits of eating a Mediterranean Diet and the positive impact it has on this syndrome.
Preventing Metabolic Syndrome
Here are a few items you need to focus on if you have metabolic syndrome, and if you don’t, you should still be working on keeping these in line because “the best medicine is prevention”:
- Maintain a waist circumference <40 inches for males and <35 for females.
- Keep your blood triglycerides <150 mg/dl
- Keep your blood pressure <130/85
- Your blood glucose levels should be <100 mg/dl
We previously mentioned that more than 34 percent of Americans currently have metabolic syndrome. A recent study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found the prevalence and trends of metabolic syndrome among Americans are on the rise.
References
Ford, ES et al. (2002). Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome among U.S. adults: findings from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Journal American Medical Association, 287: 356-359.
Cornier, Marc-Andre et al. (2008). The Metabolic Syndrome. Endocrine Reviews, 29(7): 777– 822.
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