E9

Catherine McCain

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Although your recent blood results may not be enough to warrant medication, it doesn't mean we should ignore them.

While one slightly elevated reading may not set off warning bells, having two or three slightly elevated readings can be threatening.

Metabolic syndrome is a condition that links blood pressure, blood sugar and heart disease together and you only need slightly elevated readings in order for it to count.

This disorder actually involves five issues: high blood pressure, elevated blood sugars, low HDL-cholesterol (the good one), elevated triglycerides and excess abdominal weight.

We only need three out of the five risk factors to be present in order to be diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, and they don't have to be significantly elevated.

Borderline elevated is enough to count. That could be a blood pressure reading of 130/90. Not high enough for diagnosis of hypertension but enough to be borderline high.

The common theme among these parameters is that they can lead to insulin resistance. Insulin is a valuable hormone produced by our pancreas that enables sugar to go from our blood stream into our tissues where it can either be burned off or stored.

When our body no longer responds to this hormone, or builds up a resistance to it, then damage can occur. For some people, it can result in a buildup of sugar in the bloodstream with diabetes eventually being diagnosed.

But this isn't always the case.

For other people, their pancreas simply goes on overdrive. An excess amount of insulin is produced to overcome its ineffectiveness, and the blood sugar levels are relatively controlled. But this elevated insulin level may damage our fragile blood vessels, which may eventually lead to atherosclerosis and heart damage, or even memory loss. And this occurs without any values being significantly elevated. There is simply a bad combination of risk factors.

It is estimated that a quarter of the population already has metabolic syndrome, especially with our growing waistlines.

Being overweight is an underlying issue, but before you jump on the bathroom scale, the number we are really interested in is your waist measurement.

A simple tape measurement will do, but it is important that you measure at the point of your belly button. A man's waist, ideally, should be under 35 inches, but health risks start to climb significantly once it creeps over 40 inches. A woman's waist measurement should ideally be under 32 inches, but the health risks start to appear once it grows past 35 inches.

Body fat found on our legs may not be that attractive to us, but it's not going to impact our health like that found around our belly.

The most effective step in addressing insulin resistance is activity. Getting active can reduce blood pressure readings, increase insulin effectiveness and HDL-cholesterol readings (the good cholesterol), improve circulation and help weight loss.

The glycemic index can also be a useful tool for metabolic syndrome. High glycemic foods, such as refined breads and cereals, are digested too quickly and are likely to over stimulate your pancreas and trigger it to secrete too much insulin. Low glycemic foods, such as whole grains, are preferred since they are slower to digest and place less demand on our pancreas.

It is also the time to look closely at our diet. Actually keep a food diary for a week and record everything. Everything we eat and drink. Once it is written on paper, it is amazing how apparent some issues are. We may not realize that those little glasses of pop actually add up to a two to three litres a week, or that we only ate one piece of fruit.

We need to start paying attention to not only what we are eating, but what we are not eating - what we're missing in our diet.

Catherine McCain, RD, BSc, MBA, is a consulting dietitian in private practice at a Fredericton physiotherapy clinic. She can be reached at 457-2722.