Metabolic Syndrome

Metabolic Syndrome is now the accepted term for the collections of symptoms that has previously been called Syndrome X or Insulin Resistance Syndrome or Impaired Glucose Tolerance.

What Is Metabolic Syndrome?

Metabolic Syndrome is often the half-way stage to Type 2 diabetes and is a combination of several different health problems occuring together such as:

• Insulin resistance
• Being overweight with fat around your middle (central obesity or apple shaped) with a waist:hip ratio of over 0.90 on men and 0.85 in women or a Body Mass Index (BMI) of over 30 (Obese)
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol levels
• High homocysteine level

Why Is Metabolic Syndrome Important?

A quarter of the population in the UK is believed to be suffering with metabolic syndrome which is a cause for great concern, because it indicates that these people are going down the road to having Type 2 diabetes , and already have a collection of serious health problems which significantly increase their chance of having:

• Type 2 diabetes
• Heart and circulation problems including heart attack and stroke