What is metabolic syndrome?

Metabolic syndrome is a name for a group of risk factors (medical disorders) that occur together and increase the risk for heart disease and stroke.  While heart disease can have different medical definitions, it is usually thought of as coronary artery disease.   According to Wikipedia other names for the same set of conditions are Syndrome X, etc.

Symptoms
According to the American Heart Association and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, metabolic syndrome is present if you have three or more of the following five signs:

• Blood pressure equal to or higher than 130/85 mmHg
• Fasting blood sugar (glucose) equal to or higher than 100 mg/dL
• Large waist circumference  i.e. excess central body fat, also known as an “apple shape” body)
  • Men – 40 inches or more
  • Women – 35 inches or more
• Low HDL cholesterol:
  • Men – under 40 mg/dL
  • Women – under 50 mg/dL
• Triglycerides equal to or higher than 150 mg/dL

Tests to diagnose metabolic syndrome include:

• Blood pressure measurement
• Glucose test
• HDL cholesterol level
• LDL cholesterol level
• Total cholesterol level
• Triglyceride level

Healics Inc. does all of these tests for metabolic syndrome as a part of its routine annual health risk assessment for employer clients.

What should you do for each of the five individual conditions?
The first thing you do is see your doctor before you have three symptoms.  See your doctor as soon as you have any one of the five symptoms.

Then read our lifestyle recommendations for each health condition and carry them out.

Resource Center:

• Google Health
• Mayo Clinic
• Medline Plus
• WebMD

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