A group of conditions including high blood pressure and insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome can lead to stroke, diabetes, and even death – but it’s largely preventable.
A CLUSTER OF RISK FACTORS
Metabolic Syndrome
How Insulin Resistance Can Affect Your Life
The mechanism surrounding insulin resistance is a biological/physiological evolutionary adaptation that humans and other animals have acquired over thousands of years. Prior to our industrial revolution, food was not plentiful. Humans adapted to periods of feast and famine through mechanisms whereby storage of energy in the form of fat tissue allowed for survival during times where food was scarce. This mechanism is affectionately known as the “Thrifty Gene Model”. Human genotypes developed with this as a benefit for survival.
behavioural adaptation
Evolutionary Advances
Since the industrial revolution, humans have been able to feed continuously, so instead of gaining fat through carbohydrate storage mechanisms and then utilizing those storages for survival, we are now susceptible to accumulating both carbohydrate and fat in our bodies in an unregulated manner. Blood glucose overwhelms our insulin production and free glucose, and cholesterol starts to accumulate in unwelcome places such as arteries and organs. This in turn creates the environment for inflammatory changes and disease processes.
82% of Canadians
Don’t get enough exercise
40% of Canadians
Have high cholesterol levels
11.7 million Canadians
Have diabetes or prediabetes
PREVENTATIVE MEASURES
The Spectrum of Disease
Insulin resistance leads to prediabetes, which leads to type two diabetes, which leads to metabolic syndrome. The spectrum of disease is the cornerstone for multiple chronic conditions, including heart attack/stroke, dementias, and hormone disruption, and is now associated with 13 different cancers.
All of us have a genetic predisposition to developing insulin resistance and the disease processes associated with it. Through exercise and dietary modifications, you can avoid the development of type two diabetes in most cases. Increasing your skeletal muscle and decreasing your body fat will help your metabolic processing of fats and carbohydrates.
FIND OUT TODAY
Take Control of Your Health
To prevent metabolic syndrome and avoid its associated diseases, get metabolic syndrome screening regularly with Age Healthier. If there’s a change in any of your levels, you can discuss this further with your physician or healthcare provider.