Metabolic Syndrome: Environmental, Dietary, and Lifestyle Risk Factors

Discover how environmental, dietary, and lifestyle factors contribute to metabolic syndrome and explore effective strategies for prevention and reversal.

Metabolic syndrome may as well be called pre- pre-diabetes...

Fortunately, many things can be done to reverse that headlong dive into type 2 diabetes.

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a collection of metabolic disorders—that is, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, central obesity, and hypertension—and a risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

Metabolic syndrome is characterized by having 3 or more of the following 5 risk factors:

• Elevated waist circumference (WC ≥80 cm in women and WC ≥ 90 cm in men)
• Elevated triglycerides (TG ≥ 150 mg/dL or receipt of medication for elevated triglycerides)
• Low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C < 50 mg/dL in women, HDL-C < 40 mg/dL in men or receipt of medication to increase HDL-C)
• Elevated blood pressure (systolic blood pressure ≥ 130 mmHg and/or ≥85 mmHg diastolic blood pressure or on antihypertensive drug treatment and a history of hypertension)
• Elevated fasting glucose (≥100 mg/dL or receipt of medical treatment for elevated glucose) 

In one study of 60,256 individuals, metabolic syndrome was also associated with

• Higher consumption of high-saturated-fat and high-energy diets
• Low intake of fruits and vegetables
• Overuse of tobacco and alcohol
• Sedentary lifestyle
• Oxidative stress
• Environmental pollutants 
• Exposure to heavy metals, e.g., lead, mercury, and cadmium
• Smoking, pollution
• Inflammation, elevated hs-CRP

The risk of metabolic syndrome was decreased with

• A healthy diet that includes fresh fruit and an abundance of vegetables, including green vegetables
• Curcumin, high intake of curry
• Balanced multivitamin and mineral intake including B complex (especially B1, B2, and B3), vitamin C, and vitamin A
• Regular exercise

Source: Duc, Hai Nguyen et al. “Effects of Antioxidant Vitamins, Curry Consumption, and Heavy Metal Levels on Metabolic Syndrome with Comorbidities: A Korean Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study.” Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) vol. 10,5 808. 19 May. 2021, doi:10.3390/antiox10050808 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/34069726/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Naturopathic and Functional Medicine Insights

Decreasing the risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease takes an "all hands on deck" approach that includes 

• A healthy, balanced diet of whole, unprocessed foods and plenty of purified mineral-rich water
• Supplementation to fill in the nutrient gaps
• Reduce or eliminate processed foods and toxins
• Daily physical activity and weekly structured moderate-intensity exercise
• An effective stress management approach that may include deep breathing, meditation, mindfulness, yoga, and music therapy
• Healthy social interaction and communication
• Evaluation and monitoring of blood chemistry parameters accompanied by the early intervention of suboptimal biomarkers