Metabolic syndrome is characterized by a cluster of several risk factors associated with increased incidence of cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, and stroke. Almost 39% of adults in the U.S. have metabolic syndrome. How do you know if you have it? The risk factors include:
- being overweight, particularly with a higher waist circumference
- waist circumference of greater than 35 inches for women or greater than 40 inches for men
- being hypertensive, meaning having elevated blood pressure (or currently using medication to control it)
- systolic blood pressure at 130 mmHg or greater
- diastolic blood pressure at 85 mmHg or greater
- being pre-diabetic or having elevated blood glucose levels (or currently using blood glucose medication)
- fasting blood glucose sugar of 100 mg/dL or greater
- having elevated triglycerides (or currently using medication to reduce it)
- at least 150mg/dL or greater
- high LDL cholesterol (the bad kind), low HDL (the good kind)
Preventing metabolic syndrome
The three main points of focus for prevention are…
- achieving weight loss
- aiming for 5-10% weight loss within 1 year
- moderate increase in physical activity
- meeting recommendations of 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity on most days of the week
- change in dietary habits
- decrease sugar foods
- increase lean protein
- reduce saturated fats
