Just One Junk-Food Snack Can Trigger Metabolic Syndrome

What Is Metabolic Syndrome?Metabolic Syndrome is the name applied to a group of risk factors that drastically raise your risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and diabetes.

These risk factors include elevated waist circumferance (men >40 in., women > 35 in.), Elevated triglycerides, reduced HDL (good) cholesterol(men <40, women < 50), elevated blood pressure >130/85 , and elevated fasting glucose (>100mg/dL).  In order to be diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, you must have 3 of any of these factors, as outlined by the American Heart Association’s guidelines and the NIDH)

Research Reveals:  1 Junk Food Snack, Alone, Enough To Trigger Metabolic Syndrome

A recent study has found that just one high-calorie milkshake was enough to make metabolic syndrome worse for some people. And overindulgence in just a single meal or snack (especially junk food) is enough to trigger the beginnings of metabolic syndrome, which is associated with the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

That finding by researchers at the Microbiology and Systems Biology Group of the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) was reported in the online edition of the Nov. 2015 issue of The FASEB Journal.

For some people, “acute effects of diet are mostly small, but may have large consequences in the long run,” said TNO researcher Suzan Wopereis, Ph.D., senior author of the report.

The researchers gave male volunteers in two groups a high-fat milkshake consisting of 1.6 g protein, 16 g fat, and 3.2 g carbohydrates.

The first group included 10 healthy male volunteers. They were also given a snack diet consisting of an additional 1300 kcal per day, in the form of sweets and savory products such as candy bars, tarts, peanuts, and crisps for four weeks.

The second group included nine volunteers with metabolic syndrome and who had a combination of two or more risk factors for heart disease, such as unhealthy cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high blood lipids, and abdominal fat.

Shocking Test Results

Both groups had blood samples taken, before and after the snacks. In these blood samples, the researchers measured 61 biomarkers, such as cholesterol and blood sugar.

For the subjects with metabolic syndrome, the blood tests showed that biochemical processes related to sugar metabolism, fat metabolism, and inflammation were abnormal. This came as no surprise considering these test subjects already had metabolic syndrome.

What was shocking were the findings for the group of healthy men.  For the 10 healthy male volunteers, the blood tests showed that signaling molecules controlling sugar and fat metabolism were changed and levels of inflammation were significantly elevated.  These findings resemble the start of negative health effects similar to those found at the start of metabolic disease.

“Eating junk food is one of those situations where our brains say ‘yes’ and our bodies say ‘no,’” said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. “Unfortunately for us, this report shows that we need to use our brains and listen to our bodies. Even one unhealthy snack has negative consequences that extend far beyond any pleasure it brings.”nervedoctor.info

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.kurzweilai.net

In a nutshell Metabolic Syndrom Defined: It is a clustering of at least three of the five following medical conditions: abdominal (central) obesity, elevated blood pressure, elevated fasting plasma glucose, high serum triglycerides, and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels.

Metabolic syndrome is associated with the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes.[1][2] Some studies have shown the prevalence in the USA to be an estimated 34% of the adult population,[3] and the prevalence increases with age.

Metabolic syndrome and prediabetes may be the same disorder, just diagnosed by a different set of biomarkers.

The syndrome is thought to be caused by an underlying disorder of energy utilization and storage. The cause of the syndrome is an area of on-going medical research.