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Metabolic syndrome
Make it clearer
Metabolic syndrome is not one disease but several that show up together, like a set of leaks that spring up at the same time in the same house: central obesity, which is fat stored in the abdomen; insulin resistance; hypertension, which is high blood pressure; and atherogenic dyslipidemia, which is a blood fat profile that favors atherosclerosis.
Three things have been proposed as the link between them: insulin resistance, adipose tissue dysfunction and chronic inflammation. Insulin is the hormone that tells cells to take up glucose; resistance means that tissues respond less to that signal even though insulin is there.
Adipose tissue, body fat, plays an active part. It releases free fatty acids into the blood, and those fatty acids act on two fronts at once: they promote insulin resistance and they keep the beta cells of the pancreas, the ones that make insulin, from secreting it.
In brief
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of disorders that occur together: central obesity, insulin resistance, hypertension and atherogenic dyslipidemia.
Like a set of leaks that spring up at the same time in the same house.
Insulin resistance, adipose tissue dysfunction and chronic inflammation have been proposed as the core mechanisms underlying the syndrome.
The free fatty acids released by adipose tissue promote that resistance and inhibit insulin secretion by the beta cells of the pancreas.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingMetabolic Syndrome, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
Updated