'metabolic syndrome' epidemic shadowing obesity rate

Doctor fears 'metabolic syndrome' epidemic is shadowing obesity rate

interesting reading...

http://www.southbendtribune.com/stor...rs__metabo.sto

quote:
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"This is the epidemic of the 21st century,'' he said.

Howard believes the disease is driven by one of the same factors that
is driving the obesity epidemic: the preponderance of refined
carbohydrates in the American diet.

Refined carbohydrates, according to this theory, are metabolized so
quickly that they cause a rapid increase, or spike, in blood sugar.

The body reacts to elevated sugar by releasing an excess of insulin
into the bloodstream. Eventually, the body's cells become resistant to
the insulin and blood sugar rises to the unsafe levels seen in
diabetes.

But before that happens, years of excess insulin already have caused
inflammatory damage to the arteries, Howard said. It does the damage
by way of all those risk factors that define the metabolic syndrome.
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TC