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The Syndrome Marked X
by author Shirin Kalyan, BSc

It’s estimated that between 20 and 40 percent of us sufferfrom a potentially deadlymetabolic syndrome.

This detrimental disorder, which has gone by the name of syndrome X, insulin resistance syndrome, or even the deadly quartet, is slated to become the leading cause of premature death in western nations.

Syndrome X was coined by Gerald Reaven, MD, in the late 1980s using medical evidence that showed a clustering of major health risk factors connected with cardiovascular disease and insulin resistance. These factors became officially known as the “metabolic syndrome” by the World Health Organization in 1998. Anyone with three or more of the five risk factors listed below is classified as suffering from syndrome X. Sobering studies have found that only about one-third of adults in western society are actually free of all major characteristics, which include obesity,
hypertension, insulin resistance, glucose intolerance and dyslipidaemia (a condition marked by high triglyceride levels and low HDL-cholesterol or “good cholesterol”).

Insulin resistance, a condition characterized by decreased tissue sensitivity to insulin action, is considered the common underlying thread of syndrome X. Glucose, a simple form of sugar, is controlled in the bloodstream by insulin, which is produced by the pancreas. Insulin is
necessary for cells to absorb glucose. If this mechanism isn’t working, the result is fluctuating blood sugar levels. Insulin resistance eventually leads to hyperinsulineamia, a compensatory state of greater insulin secretion by the body. If left untreated and undiagnosed, most who develop insulin resistance go on to develop type II diabetes. The few with insulin resistance who escape this fate still remain at very high risk for heart attack, stroke and other diseases, including certain types of cancer.

Shirin Kalyan, BSc, is in the midst ofobtaining her doctoral degree in experimental medicine at the University of British Columbia. Being an active health advocate and researcher, Shirin often writes health articles to help bridge scientific research and public information.

Source: alive #246, April 2003