Metabolic syndrome: what causes and how to treat it?

Have you ever heard of the term metabolic syndrome? Maybe you rarely hear this term, but it could be that you have one of the criteria for metabolic syndrome. Beware if you have metabolic syndrome conditions, because this can increase your risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

What is metabolic syndrome?

Metabolic syndrome is not a disease, but rather a group of health conditions consisting of high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol levels and excess belly fat. When all these health conditions are put together they can cause serious health problems. This group of health conditions can increase the risk of heart disease by up to twofold and increase the risk of diabetes by up to fivefold.

You are said to have metabolic syndrome if you have any of the following health conditions:

• High blood pressure, characterized by a systolic blood pressure of more than 130 mmHg or a diastolic blood pressure of more than 85 mmHg
• High blood sugar levels, characterized by fasting blood sugar levels of more than 100 mg / dL
• Excess body fat around the waist (abdominal obesity), marked with a waist circumference of more than 90 cm for men and more than 80 cm for women
• High levels of bad cholesterol and triglycerides, characterized by good cholesterol (HDL) levels of less than 40 mg / dL for men and less than 50 mg / dL for women, while triglyceride levels are more than 150 mg / dL

If you only have one of the conditions above, you can't say you have metabolic syndrome. However, having one of the conditions above that is not controlled can also trigger other health conditions. Therefore, if you have one of the health conditions as above, it should be controlled properly to prevent metabolic syndrome.

What causes metabolic syndrome?

Many factors can cause you to develop metabolic syndrome. However, there are two main contributing factors, namely obesity and insulin resistance.

Obesity

Obesity can cause a person to have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar levels. Thus, obese people are very susceptible to suffering from type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, and other serious diseases. Excess fat that occurs in the stomach or abdominal obesity is closely related to metabolic syndrome. Obesity itself can occur because you do not maintain your diet and do not do enough physical activity.

Insulin resistance

Insulin resistance is closely related to being overweight. Insulin resistance occurs when the body's cells in the liver, bone muscle, and fat tissue become less sensitive and resistant to insulin (a hormone that helps the body's cells absorb glucose). These cells do not recognize insulin properly, so the glucose in the body is not properly absorbed by these cells. As a result, blood glucose levels in the body increase and insulin production also increases, leading to a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.

Apart from these two main causes, the risk of metabolic syndrome is also higher due to age. The older you are, the higher your risk of developing metabolic syndrome. In addition, genetic factors, unhealthy lifestyle, and hormonal changes can also increase your risk of developing metabolic syndrome. However, these factors may vary between individuals depending on ethnic groups. Other diseases, such as heart disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) can also increase your risk of metabolic syndrome.

What should be done to prevent metabolic syndrome?

If you already have a health condition that can develop into metabolic syndrome, you should immediately change your lifestyle. Metabolic syndrome can be prevented by:

• Lose weight
• Increase your physical activity
• Apply a healthy diet to keep blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar within normal ranges. Enrich your healthy intake by eating vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and fish.
• Quit smoking and drinking alcohol
• Always control blood sugar levels, blood cholesterol, and blood pressure. You can do this at a health center.