April 2006
Current Issue
Past Issues
About Us
Public Affairs
Baylor Home
Metabolic syndrome: The disease of the new millennium
A few years ago, a new term started cropping up at medical meetings, in the health literature and finally in the media. The term was "metabolic syndrome" and it is considered the fastest growing health condition in the world.
"Metabolic syndrome is the disease of the new millennium," said John Foreyt, Ph.D., director of the behavioral medicine research center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. "By the time you're an adult, most of us have it. Its prevalence is increasing dramatically because of the rising number of people who are obese and inactive."
Identify factors
Foreyt, also a professor of pediatrics at the USDA's Children's Nutrition Research Center, says that in the United States almost 50 percent of adults age 60 and over have the syndrome, which may soon become the number one risk factor for heart disease.
Metabolic syndrome is characterized by several risk factors, including central obesity or large waist circumference, elevated blood pressure, high plasma levels of triglycerides and low plasma levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and impaired glucose tolerance. Foreyt says that if you have any three of these characteristics you have metabolic syndrome and are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, or having a stroke or heart attack.
Toolbox of strategies
Lifestyle modification is an essential part of weight loss for people with or at risk for metabolic syndrome. Maintaining a healthy diet and weight, doing 30 to 60 minutes of moderately intense exercise every day and quitting smoking can all help reduce a person's chances of developing heart disease.
Foreyt has created a "toolbox" of strategies that can be used to combat the syndrome. The strategies include setting reasonable weight loss goals, raising awareness, confronting your weaknesses, managing stress, thinking positively and realistically about losing weight, preventing relapses by developing coping strategies and having strong support from family members and close friends.
"It's about changing your lifestyle," said Foreyt. "No matter what age you are the emphasis has to be on adopting a healthy diet and getting more exercise."
| A Matter of Health | |
 |
Sleep and health |
| Briefs | |
|
Baylor ranked 10th on national list of medical schools |
|
Kuspa appointed new chair in biochemistry and molecular biology |
|
Stal named chief of the division of plastic surgery at BCM |