I have posted previous notes about the metabolic syndrome. It has been estimated that about one-quarter of all U.S. adults suffer from it, a collection of risk factors that can eventually set you up for more serious health problems. It's a topic that lab professionals need to be knowledgeable about. [These risk factors] include a large waist circumference; high blood pressure; high levels of triglycerides; low levels of good (HDL) cholesterol; and high blood sugar. Note that "waist" is measured at about the level of the umbilicus. If you have three or more of the five risk factors, you have metabolic syndrome. Now comes word that the syndrome can be corrected by moderate exercise (see; Moderate Exercise Cuts Risk of Metabolic Syndrome). Below is an excerpt from the article with boldface emphasis mine:
A brisk 30-minute walk most days of the week is enough to undo metabolic syndrome, a health condition that can lead to heart disease, diabetes and stroke, a new study [performed at Duke University Medical Center's department of medicine] suggests....At the start of the study, 41 percent of the 171 participants had metabolic syndrome; at the end, just 27 percent did....[The researchers] looked at the effects of different amounts and intensities of exercise.[They assigned] the 171 men and women to one of four groups. One was a control group, whose members continued to be sedentary....Those in the low amount/vigorous intensity group didn't improve their scores as much as those who did less-intense exercise for a longer period of time, the low amount/ moderate intensity group. Moderate intensity activity every day, or almost every day, may be better for metabolic syndrome risk reduction than more vigorous activity a few days a week, the researchers suggested.
A cardiologist friend tells me that the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome is an easy one to make -- the patient's abdomen enters the examining room before the rest of his or her body. However and as noted above, there's more to the diagnosis than this observation, including abnormalities of triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, and blood sugar. These tests are obviously performed in the lab. Weight loss definitely helps to ameliorate the condition and this is the advice that all such patients are given. We now learn that moderately intense activity every day is also very beneficial. No big surprise here.
Despite the occasional emphasis in Lab Soft News on relatively expensive diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to healthcare such as molecular diagnostics, I continue to be impressed by the face that the general health of the U.S. population could be markedly improved by relatively simple patient-initiated measures. I emphasized this point in a recent note (see: Assessing the Value of the Annual Physical Exam) in the following way:
...the annual exam should always be the occasion for a serious discussion with the patient about correctable issues such as diet, exercise, smoking cessation, sleeping habits, and alcohol consumption.
This current news now provides evidence that exercise not only prevents one common problem but also may cure it as well.
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