Metabolic Syndrome
– Increased risk for Heart Failure in Middle Age
May 22nd, 2006
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Pritikin Diet |
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Metabolic syndrome
is a condition which consists of a group of symptoms. The symptoms
includes abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high triglyceride
levels along with low HDL (“good”) and high LDL (“bad”) cholesterol
levels and diabetes. Third National Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey said that there are approximately 24 percent of adults in the
United States over the age of 20 that have the metabolic syndrome.
Approximately 40 percent of the people over the age of 60 have the
metabolic syndrome. There are about 47 million people in the United
States that have metabolic syndrome.
A report in Heart
Online First said that people with metabolic syndrome have a significant
increased risk for developing heart failure in their middle age years.
Researchers
observed 2,300 male participants starting in 1970 when they were age 50
and watched for metabolic syndrome and heart failure until the
participants turned 70 years old.
If the
participants showed signs of having metabolic syndrome during the
beginning of the study they saw a strong association with the
development of heart failure in these men. The men with the metabolic
syndrome had twice the risk of developing heart failure when compared to
the men that did not have the condition.
The researchers
believe that the reason the metabolic syndrome men have more heart
failure is due to the increase of fatty deposits that clog the
arteries. Another contribution could be insulin resistance that would
allow for higher levels to circulate in the bloodstream. Insulin could
increase and enlarge the heart muscle which is also a potential
contributing factor to heart failure.
Another problem
with high levels of insulin is that it will stimulate the sympathetic
nervous system. In other research it is believed to be a risk factor in
heart failure by causing the muscle cells in the heart to shrivel and to
stiffen.
Modifications in
diet and exercise have helped change blood lipid levels. One such diet
investigated by researchers in another study, was the Pritikin Diet
which included both dietary and exercise changes within a clinic
setting. Even when the person did not lose significant amounts of
weight, their blood levels changed considerably.
Nicole Wilson
Best Syndication
Books on Metabolic Syndrome
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