The latest buzz word in health: METABOLIC SYNDROME

The diagnosis metabolic syndrome dates back to the 1950’s. It became more popular around the late 1970’s when the low fat diets first became popular. Today, it is a diagnosis used regularly to define an ever growing percentage of our population. We doctors make it sound like a “disease” requiring our intervention to overcome this life threatening syndrome. In reality, it is a state of dysfunction caused PRIMARILY by the consumer.

What is Metabolic Syndrome? It is a state of diminishing health based on an individual diagnosed with any three of the following five conditions:

1. elevated blood pressure (≥ 130/85mmHg)

2. elevated fasting blood sugar (≥100mg/dL)

3. excess body fat around the waste (abdominal obesity >35 inches in women and >40 inches in men)

4. HDL cholesterol ≤40 mg/dL for men or 50 mg/dL for women

5. elevated triglycerides (≥150 mg/dL)

In real numbers, these conditions exist in the United States population as follows:

1. as of…