Metabolic Syndrome

Higher intake of whole-fat — but not low-fat — dairy is associated with a lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome, as well as lower incidence of hypertension and diabetes, researchers reported.

Psychiatric patients have a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome than the general population and may not receive adequate treatment for metabolic disruptions, according to results of a Swiss population-based cohort study published in Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Clinicians should frequently monitor metabolic traits during early stages of antipsychotic treatment because of rapid and substantial changes that can occur, according to results of a randomized, open-label, pharmacologic trial published in Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

The underlying etiology of the metabolic syndrome, a cardiometabolic risk factor cluster — central obesity, low HDL cholesterol, impaired glucose tolerance, elevated triglycerides and hypertension — remains the subject of debate. Gerald Reaven, MD, the Stanford University researcher who coined the syndrome’s original name of “syndrome X,” suggested insulin resistance was the cause, but this is only partly correct. Insulin resistance is just one of the outcomes of circadian dysfunction, along with the above risk factors.

The term “metabolic syndrome” has been used since the mid-1990s to describe a constellation of risk factors that predispose adults to develop diabetes, cardiovascular disease or both. These factors, many of which are linked to obesity, inactivity and unhealthy diet, appear to be emerging among younger patients. From 1988-1994 to 2007-2012, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among U.S. adults rose by more than 35%, from 25.3% to 34.2%, according to the CDC.

Future cardiovascular risk among adult patients with depression may be identifiable early using combined data on metabolic syndrome and inflammation, according to results of a population-based cohort study published in JAMA Psychiatry. Researchers used this data to determine that one-third of the association of depression with elevated arterial stiffness index levels during midlife may be accounted for by combined inflammatory and metabolic syndrome processes.

Women with type 2 diabetes are more likely to develop lower-extremity arterial disease if they also have metabolic syndrome, according to findings published in the Journal of Diabetes and its Complications.

Type 2 diabetes risk may be higher even after more than 20 years for Chinese women who develop gestational diabetes compared with those who do not, according to findings published in the Journal of Diabetes Investigation.

Diets consisting of higher vegetable fat and polyunsaturated fat intake correlated with a lower risk for hepatocellular carcinoma, including cases in which individuals replaced other animal, dairy, or saturated fats with vegetable and polyunsaturated fats, according to data.

Survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia, particularly those with obesity and/or who received treatment during adolescence, appeared to be at higher risk for type 2 diabetes than the general population, according to study results published in Cancer.