Location, location.Older people who are normal weight can have the metabolic syndrome--also known as insulin resistance Insulin Resistance Definition Insulin resistance is not a disease as such but rather a state or condition in which a person's body tissues have a lowered level of response to insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas that helps to regulate the level syndrome or Syndrome X--if their fat is stored in the wrong places. You have the metabolic syndrome metabolic syndrome n. See syndrome X. Metabolic syndrome A group of risk factors for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. if you have at least three of five symptoms: low HDL (Hardware Description Language) A language used to describe the functions of an electronic circuit for documentation, simulation or logic synthesis (or all three). Although many proprietary HDLs have been developed, Verilog and VHDL are the major standards. ("good") cholesterol, a large waist, and elevated (but not necessarily high) blood pressure, blood sugar, and triglycerides Triglycerides Fatty compounds synthesized from carbohydrates during the process of digestion and stored in the body's adipose (fat) tissues. High levels of triglycerides in the blood are associated with insulin resistance. . People with the syndrome have a higher risk of diabetes and heart disease (see Oct. 2004, p. 5). Researchers used CT scans to measure fat deposits in the waist and thighs of more than 3,000 men and women aged 70 to 79. As expected, the metabolic syndrome was more common in the obese and overweight than in people who were normal-weight. However, when the researchers looked at people within the same weight category, those with the metabolic syndrome had the same (or less) total body fat than those without the syndrome. The difference: people with the metabolic syndrome had more fat deep in the abdomen (visceral fat) and inside the thigh muscles than did people without the syndrome. What to do: Remind your doctor that even normal-weight people can have the metabolic syndrome. Archives of Internal Medicine The Archives of Internal Medicine is a bi-monthly international peer-reviewed professional medical journal published by the American Medical Association. Archives of Internal Medicine 165: 777, 2005. |
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