renee.t.edge The inflammation based disease pair for today is Metabolic Syndrome and Type 2 diabetes. Metabolic Syndrome is a pre-cursor to diabetes and is often referred to as pre-diabetes.
Metabolic syndrome is the name for a group of risk factors that raises your risk for heart disease and other health problems, such as diabetes and stroke.
The five conditions described below are metabolic risk factors. You can have any one of these risk factors by itself, but they tend to occur together. You must have at least three metabolic risk factors to be diagnosed with metabolic syndrome.
1. A large waistline. This also is called abdominal obesity or “having an apple shape.” Excess fat in the stomach area is a greater risk factor for heart disease than excess fat in other parts of the body, such as on the hips.
2. A high triglyceride level (or you’re on medicine to treat high triglycerides). Triglycerides are a type of fat found in the blood.
3. A low HDL cholesterol level (or you’re on medicine to treat low HDL cholesterol). HDL sometimes is called “good” cholesterol. This is because it helps remove cholesterol from your arteries. A low HDL cholesterol level raises your risk for heart disease.
4, High blood pressure (or you’re on medicine to treat high blood pressure). Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against the walls of your arteries as your heart pumps blood. If this pressure rises and stays high over time, it can damage your heart and lead to plaque buildup.
5. High fasting blood sugar (or you’re on medicine to treat high blood sugar). Mildly high blood sugar may be an early sign of diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes, the most common type of diabetes, is a disease that occurs when your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high. Blood glucose is your main source of energy and comes mainly from the food you eat. Insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas, helps glucose get into your cells to be used for energy. In type 2 diabetes, your body doesn’t make enough insulin or doesn’t use insulin well. Too much glucose then stays in your blood, and not enough reaches your cells.
Insulin pays an important role in both of these conditions. Insulin controls multiple genes including those responsible for storing fat in your midline area. When your body becomes insulin resistant, your body secretes more insulin thinking that will solve the problem. More insulin causes resistance to the signal. Insulin resistance is when cells in your muscles, fat, and liver don’t respond well to insulin and can’t use glucose from your blood for energy. This can lead to obesity and eventually heart disease and diabetes. Higher levels of insulin also causes an increase in circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines resulting in persistent low-grade inflammation.
Simple changes to your diet and an increase in exercise can have dramatic effects in reversing this process. Please know that this is not an age bound process, that happens automatically as you age. The youngest person diagnosed with type 2 diabetes was only 3 years of age.
Follow along as we continue to explore diseases caused by inflammation.
Not sure if you may be dealing with Chronic Inflammation? Check out this prior blog post for more information- The Destruction of Chronic Inflammation
