Three easy measures to predict metabolic syndrome in elderly

by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc

Credit: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers

A new study found a surprisingly high rate of metabolic syndrome among individuals aged 60-100 years. Three easy-to-measure anthropometric indicators were predictive of metabolic syndrome in both men and women and could be useful for indicating the need for preventive care and further testing, according to the findings published in Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders.

04 april 2019--The article, which evaluated nearly 500 elderly individuals, is entitled "Performance of Anthropometric Indicators in the Prediction of Metabolic Syndrome in the Elderly" and was coauthored by Carla Helena Augustin Schwanke, MD, Ph.D. and colleagues from Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. About 60% of the study participants had metabolic syndrome. The researchers assessed the predictive value of five anthropometric measures in men and women, which included waist diameter (from front to back), waist diameter/height, neck circumference, and indices comprised of a combination of weight, height, and waist circumference. All of these measures are easy to obtain in a primary care physicians office.

"This study reinforces the importance of simple clinical observation and measurement in the effort to recognize and treat metabolic disease associated with obesity," says Dr. Adrian Vella, MD, FRCP (Edin.) Editor-in-Chief of Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders and Professor, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN.

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More information: Jamile Ceolin et al, Performance of Anthropometric Indicators in the Prediction of Metabolic Syndrome in the Elderly, Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders (2019). DOI: 10.1089/met.2018.0113

Provided by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc 

MetS prevalent among seniors at risk of mobility disability

15 feb 2015—For older adults at high risk of mobility disability, metabolic syndrome is highly prevalent, according to a study published online Jan. 30 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Anda Botoseneanu, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional analysis to examine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its association with physical capacity, disability, and self-related health in older adults. Data were collected for 1,535 community dwelling sedentary adults, aged 70 to 98 years and at high risk of mobility disability.

The researchers found that the prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 49.8 percent overall, and was 83.2 and 38.1 percent, respectively, among those with and without diabetes mellitus. In the overall sample and in those without diabetes mellitus and with poorer self-rated health, metabolic syndrome correlated with stronger grip strength (P = 0.01 and P < 0.001, respectively). No significant differences were found in the overall sample or in diabetes mellitus subgroups for the 400-m walk time, Short Physical Performance Battery score, or disability score for participants with versus without metabolic syndrome.

"Longitudinal studies are needed to investigate whether metabolic syndrome accelerates declines in functional status in high-risk older adults and to inform clinical and public health interventions aimed at preventing or delaying disability in this group," the authors write.

More information: Abstract
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Metabolic syndrome makes a difference in hormone therapy risk

A new analysis of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) trials show that women who had metabolic syndrome before they started hormone therapy had a greatly increased risk of heart attack or dying of heart disease. Women who didn't have metabolic syndrome beforehand showed no increased risk. The study was published this month online in Menopause, the journal of the North American Menopause Society.

01 nov 2012--"Our findings emphasize the importance of assessing cardiovascular disease risk status when hormone therapy is considered for relief of menopausal symptoms," wrote the WHI investigators who authored the study.

Metabolic syndrome is a group of risk factors that occur together and increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. They include a large waistline, high blood pressure, high blood glucose or diabetes, high triglycerides, or low HDL—the "good cholesterol." Obesity is the key feature, which predisposes women to the others.

In this analysis, a woman was considered to have metabolic syndrome if she had three of any of the five metabolic syndrome features; 269 women met the criteria when they started the trial and were compared with 695 women who did not have metabolic syndrome.

The women who did not have metabolic syndrome showed no increased risk of heart disease, whether they took hormones or not. But the risk of a heart attack or dying of heart disease was more than double for women who had metabolic syndrome and took hormones (either combined estrogen-progestogen or estrogen alone if they had undergone hysterectomy) compared with women who had metabolic syndrome and did not take hormones. Women with metabolic syndrome who took estrogen alone had a smaller increase in risk, but they were still at significantly higher risk than women with metabolic syndrome who did not take hormones.

In the WHI, women took oral formulations of hormone therapy, which were common at the time. Today, smaller doses and other forms, such skin patches or gels, are being used. In addition, women in the WHI were older (average age 66 in this analysis) than the age women usually start hormone therapy for menopause symptoms, such as hot flashes and night sweats. Newer formulations and earlier use of hormone therapy may be safer, but more study needs to be done to find out if having metabolic syndrome makes a difference with these types of hormone therapy.

The study will be published in the March 2013 print edition of Menopause.

Provided by The North American Menopause Society

Metabolic syndrome linked to memory loss in older people

Older people with larger waistlines, high blood pressure and other risk factors that make up metabolic syndrome may be at a higher risk for memory loss, according to a study published in the February 2, 2011, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

04 feb 2011--Metabolic syndrome was defined as having three or more of the following risk factors: high blood pressure, excess belly fat, higher than normal triglycerides (a type of fat found in the blood), high blood sugar and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, or "good" cholesterol. Metabolic syndrome has also been tied to increased risk of heart attack.

For the study, 7,087 people age 65 and older from three French cities were tested for metabolic syndrome. A total of 16 percent of the participants had metabolic syndrome. Participants were given a series of memory and cognitive function tests two and four years later. The tests included a memory test, a test of visual working memory and a test of word fluency.

Researchers found that people who had metabolic syndrome were 20 percent more likely to have cognitive decline on the memory test than those who did not have metabolic syndrome. Those with metabolic syndrome also were 13 percent more likely to have cognitive decline on the visual working memory test compared to those who did not have the syndrome. Specifically, higher triglycerides and low HDL cholesterol were linked to poorer memory scores; diabetes, but not higher fasting blood sugar, was linked to poorer visual working memory and word fluency scores.

"Our study sheds new light on how metabolic syndrome and the individual factors of the disease may affect cognitive health," said study author Christelle Raffaitin, MD, of the French National Institute of Health Research in Bordeaux, France. "Our results suggest that management of metabolic syndrome may help slow down age-related memory loss, or delay the onset of dementia."

Provided by American Academy of Neurology

Low vitamin D linked to the metabolic syndrome in elderly people

A new study adds to the mounting evidence that older adults commonly have low vitamin D levels and that vitamin D inadequacy may be a risk factor for the metabolic syndrome, a condition that affects one in four adults. The results were presented at The Endocrine Society's 92nd Annual Meeting in San Diego.

04 july 2010--"Because the metabolic syndrome increases the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, an adequate vitamin D level in the body might be important in the prevention of these diseases," said study co-author Marelise Eekhoff, MD, PhD, of VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam.

The researchers found a 48 percent prevalence of vitamin D deficiency. The study consisted of a representative sample of the older Dutch population: nearly 1,300 white men and women ages 65 and older.

Nearly 37 percent of the total sample had the metabolic syndrome, a clustering of high blood pressure, abdominal obesity, abnormal cholesterol profile and high blood sugar.

Subjects with blood levels of vitamin D (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D) lower than 50 nanomoles per liter, considered vitamin D insufficiency, were likelier to have the metabolic syndrome than those whose vitamin D levels exceeded 50. That increased risk especially stemmed from the presence of two risk factors for the metabolic syndrome: low HDL, or "good" cholesterol, and a large waistline.

There was no difference in risk between men and women, the authors noted.

The study included subjects who were participating in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. Although the data were from 1995 and 1996, Eekhoff said they expect that vitamin D inadequacy remains prevalent among whites in the Netherlands.

Using follow-up data from 2009, the researchers plan to study how many of the subjects with low vitamin D levels developed diabetes.

"It is important to investigate the exact role of vitamin D in diabetes to find new and maybe easy ways to prevent it and cardiovascular disease," Eekhoff said.

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The study's other authors were Mirjam Oosterwerff, MD, Paul Lips, MD, PhD, and Natasja Van Schoor, PhD, all from VU University Medical Center.

Metabolic Syndrome Can Hike Peripheral Artery Disease Risk

Study in women also finds markers of inflammation elevated with metabolic syndrome

13 sept 2009-- Women with the array of cardiovascular risk factors known as metabolic syndrome (MetS) are at elevated risk for the eventual development of peripheral artery disease (PAD), according to a study published online Sept. 8 in Circulation.

David Conen, M.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and colleagues followed a cohort of subjects in the Women's Health Study, who were free of cardiovascular disease at baseline, looking for incidence of PAD. Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the PAD risk for women with and without MetS. The researchers also assessed the relationships between MetS and inflammation measured by levels of C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1).

The researchers found that women with MetS had a 62 percent increased risk for PAD. Following adjustment for age and smoking status, MetS remained significantly associated with PAD (hazard ratio, 1.48). However, when hsCRP and sICAM-1 were added to the risk models, risk associated with the MetS was attenuated and no longer achieved significance.

"In conclusion, similar to the previously noted relationship between the MetS and incident coronary heart disease and stroke, this study demonstrated a modest positive association with future PAD in a population of otherwise low-risk women. Substantially increased plasma levels of hsCRP and sICAM-1 were evident in subjects with MetS and a strong influence of these factors on the relationship between MetS and PAD was noted, suggesting a possible pathophysiologic role," the authors write.

One of the study authors is listed on patents related to the use of inflammatory biomarkers in cardiovascular disease.

Abstract
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Antioxidant pills do not prevent metabolic syndrome

NEW YORK,07 sept 2009– People who want to forestall heart disease and diabetes may do better by choosing antioxidant-rich foods instead of antioxidant supplements, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that among more than 5,200 middle-aged adults, antioxidant supplements had no effect on the risk of developing metabolic syndrome over seven-plus years.

Metabolic syndrome refers to a collection of risk factors for type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke -- including high blood pressure, abdominal obesity, low levels of "good" HDL cholesterol, elevated triglycerides and high blood sugar. The condition is diagnosed when a person has at least three of those risk factors.

The current findings, reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggest that taking antioxidants in capsule form may not thwart metabolic syndrome.

On the other hand, men and women who began the study with relatively high blood levels of certain antioxidants -- particularly vitamin C and beta-carotene -- were less likely than those with lower levels to develop metabolic syndrome.

The implication is that even though antioxidant supplements might not cut the risk of metabolic syndrome, antioxidant-rich foods just might, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Sebastien Czernichow of the French national research institute INSERM, in Paris.

Blood levels of vitamin C and beta-carotene are "rather good surrogate markers" of people's fruit and vegetable intake, Czernichow told Reuters Health in an email.

"This reinforces the guidelines for an adequate intake of this food group and goes against the regular use of antioxidant pills," he said.

The study included 5,220 adults with an average age of 49 who were randomly assigned to take either a mix of vitamins C and E, beta- carotene, selenium and zinc in capsule form or inactive placebo capsules.

After an average of 7.5 years, 263 study participants had been diagnosed with metabolic syndrome. There was no significant difference in risk between the supplement and placebo groups.

There were differences, though, when the researchers looked at participants' antioxidant blood levels at the study's outset. The one-third with the highest vitamin C levels had about half the risk of metabolic syndrome as those with the lowest levels.

Similarly, the third with the highest beta-carotene levels had only one-third of the risk of metabolic syndrome as those with the lowest beta-carotene concentrations.

In contrast, higher zinc levels in the blood were linked to an increased risk of metabolic syndrome. It's not clear why this is, but the researchers speculate that high zinc levels might, in some people, reflect heavy consumption of red meat -- one of the prime food sources of the mineral.

Good food sources of vitamin C include citrus fruits, strawberries and cantaloupe, and vegetables such as red peppers, broccoli and tomatoes.

Beta-carotene, which is converted in the body into vitamin A, is found in foods such as carrots and sweet potatoes, and leafy greens like spinach and kale.

SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, August 2009.

Urinary Symptoms Linked to Metabolic Syndrome in Men

Even mild symptoms associated with significantly increased odds of metabolic syndrome

23 june 2009-- In men, there is a significant association between lower urinary tract symptoms and metabolic syndrome, according to a study published online June 18 in the Journal of Urology.

Varant Kupelian, Ph.D., of the New England Research Institutes in Watertown, Mass., and colleagues used the American Urological Association symptom index and a modification of the Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines to assess 1,899 men.

Compared to men with symptom index scores of zero to one, the researchers found that those with scores of two to 35 were significantly more likely to have metabolic syndrome (multivariate odds ratio, 1.68). They also observed a significant association between metabolic syndrome and a voiding symptom score of five or higher (multivariate adjusted odds ratio, 1.73), and even mild symptoms such as incomplete emptying, intermittency and nocturia.

"Further research is needed to understand the common pathophysiology of lower urinary tract symptoms and metabolic syndrome, especially longitudinal studies to determine a temporal sequence and investigation of this association in women as a relationship between chronic illnesses and lower urinary tract symptoms has been reported previously in men and women," the authors conclude. "Additional studies are needed to explore the treatment impact and correlation of comorbid conditions and symptoms associated with the individual components of metabolic syndrome."

This study was supported by Pfizer Inc.; two authors reported financial relationships with Pfizer.

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Heart Risk Linked to Metabolic Syndrome and Smoking

Chinese study of older adults shows an increased risk of cardiovascular disease

26 jan 2009-- In China, older adults with metabolic syndrome who are exposed to either active or passing smoking have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, according to a report published in the Jan. 27 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Yao He, M.D., of the Chinese PLA General Hospital in Beijing, China, and colleagues surveyed 2,334 Chinese subjects (943 men and 1,391 women) aged 60 and older. Among men, 58.1 percent were identified as ever smokers and 34.8 percent had metabolic syndrome. Among women, 13.1 percent were identified as ever smokers and 54.1 percent had metabolic syndrome. Women were more likely than men to have been exposed to secondhand smoke (42.3 percent versus 19.9 percent).

Compared to never-smokers without metabolic syndrome, the researchers found subjects with metabolic syndrome who were exposed to active or passive smoking had an increased cardiovascular disease risk of 48 to 193 percent. They also calculated that smoking cessation could reduce the risk by 37 percent in male smokers with metabolic syndrome.

"Considering that both tobacco use and metabolic syndrome are the two leading causes of preventable death in China, our findings have important public health implications," the authors write. "Our results emphasize that public health policies are needed to control smoking, secondhand smoke and metabolic syndrome. In terms of the implications for clinical practice, smokers or those exposed to passive smoke with metabolic syndrome have very high cardiovascular disease risk and should be targeted for intensive interventions."

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Cortisol and fatty liver: Researchers find cause of severe metabolic disorders

10 sept 2008--A healthy body stores fat in the form of so-called triglycerides in specialized fatty tissue as an energy reserve. Under certain conditions the delicate balance of the lipid metabolism gets out of control and fat is accumulated in the liver, leading to the dreaded fatty liver. This increases the risk of many metabolic diseases, such as the metabolic syndrome known as "deadly quartet". This combination of fatty liver, obesity, diabetes and hypertension is regarded as the primary cause of life-threatening vascular events such as myocardial infarction and stroke.
It was still unknown which conditions cause the body to deposit fat in the liver. However, scientists knew that the body's own glucocorticoid hormones such as cortisol promote the development of fatty liver. This can be observed, for example, in a condition known as Cushing syndrome. Cortisol levels in affected patients are permanently raised – often caused by malignant tumors. This, in turn, leads to high blood sugar levels and patients frequently develop fatty liver. Long-term cortisone therapies such as those used for treating chronic inflammatory diseases such as asthma also cause the triglyceride level in the liver to rise to dangerous levels. Dr. Stephan Herzig, head of the Junior Research Group "Molecular Metabolic Control" at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ), and his team have now published the mechanism by which the body's own glucocorticoid hormones contribute to this disruption of the lipid metabolism.
The researchers in Herzig's team specifically switched off the cortisol receptor in the livers of mice, thus blocking the hormone's effect. As a result, the triglyceride level in the livers of the experimental animals dropped considerably. Investigations have revealed that, in the absence of the cortisol receptor, large amounts of the HES1 protein are produced in the livers of these animals. HES1 activates a number of enzymes that break down fat and, thus, counteracts fat accumulation in the liver. If, on other hand, normal mice are treated with cortisol, their HES1 levels in the liver drops, while triglyceride levels rise. Further experiments have shown that the cortisol receptor in this newly found metabolic pathway act directly on a switch of the HES1 gene and, thus, switches it off completely.
"We have discovered a key mechanism here that plays a crucial role in many pathologic metabolic disorders," explains Stephan Herzig. "It has been obvious for some time that there is an association between the body's own cortisol or therapeutically administered cortisone and the development of fatty liver. Now we also know what the interconnections look like at a molecular level."
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Ulrike Lemke, Anja Krones-Herzig, Mauricio Berriel Diaz, Prachiti Narvekar, Anja Ziegler, Alexandros Vegiopoulos, Andrew Cato, Sebastian Bohl, Ursula Klingmüller, Robert A. Screaton, Karin Müller-Decker, Sander Kersten and Stephan Herzig: The Glucocorticoid Receptor Controls Hepatic Dyslipidemia through Hes1. Cell Metabolism 2008, DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2008.08.001
The task of the Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum in Heidelberg (German Cancer Research Center, DKFZ) is to systematically investigate the mechanisms of cancer development and to identify cancer risk factors. The results of this basic research are expected to lead to new approaches in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The Center is financed to 90 percent by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and to 10 percent by the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg. It is a member of the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centers (Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren e.V.).

Metabolic Syndrome Foretells Diabetes in Elderly

22 may 2008-- Metabolic syndrome increases the risk of diabetes, but not cardiovascular disease, in the elderly, a new British study finds.
People with metabolic syndrome have at least three of the following five health problems: elevated blood sugar levels; high blood pressure; high waist circumference; decreased levels of "good" HDL cholesterol; and elevated levels of triglycerides (fats) in the blood.
While experts believed all people with metabolic syndrome are at increased risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD), this University of Glasgow study suggests that's not the case in elderly people.
The researchers analyzed data from 4,812 non-diabetic people, aged 70 to 82, who took part in the Prospective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk (PROSPER), and data from 2,737 non-diabetic men, aged 60 to 79, who took part in the British Regional Heart Study (BRHS).
In PROSPER, 772 cases of CVD and 287 cases of diabetes occurred in just over three years. Metabolic syndrome was not associated with CVD but was associated with a more than fourfold increased risk of diabetes.
In BRHS, there were 440 cases of CVD and 105 cases of diabetes over seven years. Metabolic syndrome was associated with a modest (27 percent) increased risk of CVD and a more than sevenfold increased risk of diabetes.
Results from both studies showed that body-mass index (BMI) or waist circumference, triglyceride levels and glucose cutoff point weren't associated with CVD risk, but all five metabolic syndrome components were associated with diabetes risk.
"Metabolic syndrome and its components are associated with type 2 diabetes but have weak or no association with vascular risk in elderly populations, suggesting that attempts to define criteria that simultaneously predict risk for both cardiovascular disease and diabetes are unhelpful," the study authors concluded.
Rather than having combined criteria, experts should establish optimum and separate risk factors for each disease, they recommended.
The findings were published online Wednesday by The Lancet and will appear in a future print edition.

Oxidized LDL Linked to Metabolic Syndrome

By Todd Neale
LEUVEN, Belgium, 21 may 2008-- Higher levels of oxidized low-density lipoprotein are associated with an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, a longitudinal study showed.
Participants in the highest quintile of oxidized LDL level were 3.5 times more likely to develop metabolic syndrome than those in the lowest quintile (OR 3.5, 95% CI 1.9 to 6.6), Paul Holvoet, Ph.D., of Catholic University of Leuven, and colleagues reported in the May 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Those with the highest levels of oxidized LDL were also at increased risk for three components of metabolic syndrome -- abdominal obesity, high fasting glucose, and high triglycerides.
"As yet, it is not possible to conclude whether oxidized LDL is a marker related to mechanistic underlying factors on the pathway to the development of metabolic syndrome," the researchers said, "or whether it is by itself a functional intermediary in this pathway."
They said, however, that the strength of the association was consistent with a causal role.
David Jacobs Jr., Ph.D., of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, a co-author of the study, said that more research is needed to determine whether testing for oxidized LDL is clinically useful.
The proportion of LDL that is oxidized ranges from 0.001% in healthy controls to 5% in patients with acute coronary syndrome, the researchers said.
There is evidence from cellular and animal studies that oxidized LDL might be associated with metabolic syndrome, they said, but this theory has not been studied in humans.
So the researchers turned to the Cardiovascular Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, conducting the ancillary Young Adult Longitudinal Trends in Antioxidants (YALTA) study.
At the 15-year follow-up of the CARDIA study, they measured oxidized LDL levels in 1,889 participants (ages 33 to 45; 41% black; 56% female) who did not have metabolic syndrome.
Five years later, 12.9% of the participants were diagnosed with metabolic syndrome.
The researchers found that the risk of metabolic syndrome increased significantly as the levels of oxidized LDL increased (P<0.001 for trend) after adjusting for age, sex, race, study center, smoking, body mass index, physical activity, and LDL cholesterol levels.
Compared with the lowest levels of oxidized LDL, the highest levels were also associated with increased risk for the following three components of metabolic syndrome:
Abdominal obesity, with waist circumference of at least 102 cm in men and 88 cm in women, OR 2.1 (95% CI 1.2 to 3.6)
Fasting glucose of 100 mg/dL or higher or taking diabetes medication, OR 2.4 (95% CI 1.5 to 3.8)
Fasting triglycerides of 150 mg/dL or higher, OR 2.1 (95% CI 1.1 to 4.0)
The other elements of metabolic syndrome -- low HDL cholesterol and high blood pressure -- were not significantly associated with oxidized LDL.
LDL cholesterol was not associated with metabolic syndrome or any of its components.
A possible explanation for the association of oxidized LDL with abdominal obesity, the researchers said, is that adipose tissue may increase or decrease enzymes that play a role in modifying oxidation through biochemical reactions.
The link with high fasting glucose levels "could be due to reducing insulin-signaling and reducing glucose uptake," they said.
Also, oxidized LDL might contribute to dyslipidemia by impairing triglyceride storage and secretion, they said.
The study was limited, the authors said, in that it could not prove causality and excluded some participants because of pregnancy or missing samples of data.
The study was supported in part by contracts from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, with additional funding from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health fund supporting Dr. Jacobs' Mayo professorship, the Interunversitaire Attractiepolen Programma of the Belgian Federal Government, and the Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek-Vlaanderen.
Dr. Holvoet reported being the inventor of the assay for oxidized LDL for which patents have been granted in Europe and the United States.
Primary source: Journal of the American Medical AssociationSource reference:Holvoet P, et al "Association between circulating oxidized low-density lipoprotein and incidence of the metabolic syndrome" JAMA 2008; 299: 2287-2293.

Metabolic Syndrome Triggered by Overeating, Not Obesity


FRIDAY, 18 April 2008 --Overeating, not the obesity it causes, is the actual cause of metabolic syndrome, suggests a study with mice by researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.
Metabolic syndrome is a collection of health factors that increase the risk of developing insulin resistance, fatty liver, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
This study was among the first to propose that weight gain is an early symptom, not a direct cause, of metabolic syndrome, the researchers said.
"Most people today think that obesity itself causes metabolic syndrome," senior author Dr. Roger Unger, professor of internal medicine, said in a prepared statement. "We're ingrained to think obesity is the cause of all health problems, when, in fact, it is the spillover of fat into organs other than fat cells that damages these organs, such as the heart and the liver. Depositing fatty molecules in fat cells where they belong actually delays that harmful spillover."
In this study, Under and his colleagues compared normal mice to mice that were genetically altered to prevent their fat cells from expanding. Both groups of mice were overfed.
The normal mice got fat but didn't develop signs of metabolic syndrome until after about seven weeks of overeating. The genetically altered mice stayed slim but became seriously ill within a few weeks and displayed evidence of severe heart problems and major increases in blood sugar levels eight weeks before minimal heart problems developed in the normal mice, the researchers said.
The genetically altered mice showed significant damage to heart cells and to the insulin-secreting cells in the pancreas. They also got sick quicker, because the extra calories they consumed weren't stored in fat cells, but rather in other tissues, the researchers said.
The study was published online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The exact cause of metabolic syndrome, which affects about 50 million Americans, is unknown, but lack of exercise and obesity have been tagged as the primary underlying contributors to the development of the condition, according to background information in the study.

Burgers, Fries, and Diet Soda Are Recipe for Metabolic Syndrome

By Peggy Peck
MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 22 -- Middle-age adults who regularly eat a double burger, fries, and a diet soda for lunch or dinner increase their risk of incident metabolic syndrome by 25% compared with those who limit red meat to two servings a week. But eating healthy doesn't reduce the odds of developing metabolic syndrome, said Lyn M. Steffen, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., of the University of Minnesota, who studied the eating habits of more than 9,514 middle-age Americans. After nine years of follow-up, 3,782 of the participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study had three or more of the risk factors that are used to define metabolic syndrome, Dr. Steffen and colleagues reported online in Circulation, Journal of the American Heart Association.
Unlike other studies that have investigated relationships between nutrients and cardiovascular risk, "we specifically studied food intake, since when we start to think about making recommendations it is easier to do so using the framework of real foods, eaten by real people," Dr. Steffen said.
The researchers assessed food intake using a 66-item food frequency questionnaire administered at three-year intervals. From the responses to those questions, they were able to categorize people into a Western-pattern diet or a prudent-pattern diet.
A Western diet contained high amounts of refined grains, processed meat, fried foods, red meat, eggs, and soda with little consumption of low-fat dairy products, fruits, and vegetables.
Prudent eating patterns, by contrast, favored cruciferous vegetables, carotinoid vegetables, fruit, fish and seafood, poultry, and whole grains, along with low-fat dairy products.
At baseline from 1987 through 1989, the study participants were between 45 and 64 years old, a population at risk for weight gain, which is associated with metabolic syndrome.
"After adjusting for demographic factors, smoking, physical activity, and energy intake, consumption of a Western dietary pattern (Ptrend≤0.03) was adversely associated with incident [metabolic syndrome]," the researchers found.
When they analyzed the results by specific foods, they found that meat (Ptrend <0.001), fried foods (Ptrend=0.02), and diet soda (Ptrend≤0.001) were all significantly associated with increased risk of metabolic syndrome, but consumption of dairy products -- especially yogurt and low-fat milk -- was beneficial (Ptrend=0.006).
Regular soda, which Dr. Steffen said was expected to increase risk of metabolic syndrome, was not associated with increased risk.
Dr. Steffen said the soda findings might reflect poorer glycemic control, which has been reported in other studies of diet sodas. Moreover, she said a study in rats suggested that the consumption of artificial sweeteners "impairs the body's ability to predict the caloric content of foods, and may lead to increased intake and body weight."
Dr. Steffen said the association between a Western-type diet and metabolic syndrome, although expected, was nonetheless striking for some individual foods.
"For example, we looked specifically at french fries and found that eating one serving a day increased the risk of developing incident metabolic syndrome by 10%," she said in an interview.
An unexpected finding was that consuming a prudent diet (i.e. one that had a high concentration of fruits, vegetables, whole grains) and low-fat dairy products did not reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome. "We had expected to see a benefit because we have seen a beneficial relationship in other studies," she said.
The researchers noted that their study was limited by its use of a questionnaire to calculate food intake, which may have allowed for reporting bias as well as misclassification of some foods. For example, the questionnaire was "not designed to differentiate whole grain from refined grain items in the food list," they wrote.
The study was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
Dr. Steffen and colleagues reported no financial disclosures.
Primary source: Circulation, Journal of the American Heart AssociationSource reference:Lutsey PL, et al "Dietary intake and the development of the metabolic syndrome: the ARIC study" Circulation 2008; DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.107.716159.

Yoga Improves Sense of Well-Being, Reverses Changes in Metabolic Syndrome

By C. Vidyashankar
CHANNAI, India Dec 28 - Yoga induces a feeling of well-being in healthy people, and can reverse the clinical and biochemical changes associated with metabolic syndrome, according to results of studies from Sweden and India.
Dr. R.P. Agrawal, of the SP Medical College, Bikaner, India, and colleagues evaluated the beneficial effects of yoga and meditation in 101 adults with features of metabolic syndrome. In their randomized study, 55 subjects were assigned to 3 months of regular daily yoga, including standard postures, and Raja Yoga, a form of transcendental meditation, while the remaining received standard care.
Waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, fasting blood sugar, and triglycerides were significantly lower, and high density lipoprotein levels were higher in the yoga group as compared to controls, Dr. Agrawal's team reports in the December issue of Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice.
"Yoga and meditation have always been an essential part of life in the traditional system of treatment," Dr. R.P Agrawal and colleagues write. They attribute the effects to the redistribution of body fat, decreased arterial tone and peripheral resistance due to parasympathetic predominance, and increased sensitivity of beta cells of the pancreas.
In the second report, published on December 19 in BioMed Central Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Dr. Anette Kjellgren from the University of Karlstad, Sweden and her team evaluated the beneficial effects of yogic breathing exercises on healthy volunteers.
Fifty-five adults were advised to practice "Sudarshan Kriya," which involves cycles of slow normal and rapid breathing exercises. The exercises were practiced for an hour daily, six days a week for six weeks, while 48 controls were advised to relax in an armchair for 15 minutes daily.
At the end of the study period, feelings of anxiety, stress and depression were significantly decreased, and optimism was significantly increased, in the yoga group compared to controls, Dr. Kjellgren and colleagues report.
Yoga induces a "relaxation response" associated with reduced sympathetic nervous system activity and a feeling of well-being probably due to an increase in antioxidants and lower levels of cortisol, Dr. Kjellgren's team suggests.
Yoga not only helps in prevention of lifestyle diseases, but can also be "a powerful adjunct therapy when these diseases arise," co-author Dr. Faahri Saatiglou, from the University of Oslo, told Reuters Health. "We do not emphasize this point enough in our Western health care."
Diabetes Res Clin Pract 2007;78:e9-10.

Walk, Don't Run, to Prevent or Reverse Metabolic Syndrome

Michael O'Riordan
December 19, 2007 — For overweight or obese individuals who are physically inactive, brisk walking might be the best exercise prescription for shedding excess pounds and reducing the risk of metabolic syndrome. Data from a new analysis showed that in a middle-aged at-risk physically inactive population, moderate-intensity exercise in the absence of dietary changes significantly reduced the prevalence of metabolic syndrome.
"These results give a lot of credence to the fact that individuals don't necessarily have to go out and do a lot of intensive exercise to receive health benefits," senior investigator Dr William Kraus (Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC) told heartwire.
The post hoc analysis of the National Institutes of Health-funded Studies of a Targeted Risk Reduction Intervention through Defined Exercise (STRRIDE) trial is now published in the December 15, 2007 issue of the American Journal of Cardiology.
Any exercise better than none, but intense not necessarily better
Speaking with heartwire, Kraus said the purpose of the study was to identify the effects of different exercise programs on the metabolic syndrome. Previous exercise studies have looked at the effects of exercise on various components of the syndrome — increased waist circumference, low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, increased triglyceride levels, hypertension, and impaired fasting glucose — but very few studies have examined how exercise affects the metabolic syndrome as a whole.
In this analysis, the investigators analyzed data from 171 men and women with complete pre- and posttraining data for all five metabolic syndrome criteria. All subjects were overweight to mildly obese sedentary adults — body mass index (BMI) 25 to 35 kg/m2 — with no known history of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or hypertension.
Subjects were assigned to one of three exercise programs, each eight months in duration:
Low-amount/moderate-intensity exercise: approximately 12 miles/week at 40% to 55% peak oxygen consumption.
Low-amount/vigorous-intensity exercise: approximately 12 miles/week at 65% to 80% peak oxygen consumption.
High-amount/vigorous-intensity exercise: approximately 20 miles/week at 65% to 80% peak oxygen consumption.
Prior to beginning the exercise program, 40% of subjects met three of more of the criteria for metabolic syndrome. By the completion of the trial, 27% of the participants met the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) III criteria for the metabolic disorder.
Investigators also found that the low-amount/moderate-intensity exercise program reduced the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome relative to inactive controls, but this same amount of exercise at vigorous intensity was not significantly better than the inactive control group. Those who participated in high-amount/vigorous-intensity exercise improved the metabolic syndrome relative to controls as well as to the low-amount participants, all suggesting an exercise dose effect, say investigators.
These findings show that "inactivity is bad for you, and that anything is better than doing nothing, but more is not necessarily better than less," said Kraus. The findings supporting moderate-intensity exercise such as walking 30 minutes per day six days per week, added Krauss, are consistent with the American College of Sports Medicine/Centers for Disease Control exercise recommendations for health effects.
Asked about the possible reason those who participated in the low-amount/high-intensity exercise program did not improve as much as those who performed less intensive exercise, Kraus suggests that rigorous exercise recruits more fast-twitch muscle fibers and utilizes glucose to a much greater extent than low-intensity exercise. Low-intensity exercise, on the other hand, tends to recruit slow-twitch fibers and uses free fatty acids as a substrate for energy. This, he said, is more beneficial for preventing or reversing the metabolic syndrome.
Source
Johnson JL, Slentz CA, Houmard JA, et al. Exercise training amount and intensity on metabolic syndrome (from Studies of a Targeted Risk Reduction Intervention through Defined Exercise). Am J Cardiol 2007; 100:1759-1766.

Metabolic Syndrome Increases Risk for Uric Acid Kidney Stones

DALLAS, Sept. 13 -- Patients with elements of metabolic syndrome are more likely to develop highly acidic urine, increasing their risk of forming uric-acid kidney stones, researchers reported.
This study is the first to demonstrate a relationship between the metabolic syndrome and low urine pH that is independent of age, gender, body weight, type 2 diabetes, and renal function, Naim Maalouf, M.D., of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center here, and colleagues, reported in the September issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
Furthermore, the researchers said, a progressive increase in urine acidity was noted as the number of metabolic syndrome features increased, leading to a greater likelihood of uric-acid stone formation. Features of the metabolic syndrome include obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, and insulin resistance.
Uric-acid stones are more difficult to diagnose than other types of kidney calculi because they are radiolucent and therefore don't show up on standard abdominal x-rays, the researchers said.
In an outpatient cross-sectional study the researchers examined the association between metabolic syndrome and urine pH in 148 patients (mean age 44, 45% male), without a history of nephrolithiasis.
The mean BMI was 28.4 kg/m2. The average number of metabolic syndrome features was 1.76, and 29.7% of the cohort met the definition of metabolic syndrome. Participants were recruited by local advertisements.
Height, weight, blood pressure, fasting blood, and 24-hour urine chemistries were obtained, as well as urine pH.
The features of the metabolic syndrome evaluated were blood pressure, BMI, and serum triglyceride, glucose, and HDL concentrations. Insulin resistance was also assessed by the homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR).
Participants with the metabolic syndrome had a significantly lower 24-hour urine pH compared with participants without metabolic syndrome (5.71 ± 0.47 versus 6.11 ±0.42, P<0.001), the researchers reported.
Mean 24-hour urine pH, adjusted for age, gender, creatinine clearance, and 24-hour urine sulfate, decreased from 6.15, 6.10, 5.99, 5.85, to 5.69 with increasing number of metabolic syndrome abnormalities (P< 0.005for trend).
Twenty-four hour urine pH was also inversely correlated with the degree of insulin resistance. After adjustment for age, gender, BMI, creatine clearance, and urine sulfate, the inverse relationship between 24-hour urine pH and the HOMA for insulin resistance remained statistically significant.
This study confirmed earlier findings of an inverse relationship between body weight and urine pH in kidney stone-forming patients. However, 24-hour urine pH also correlated with each of the other metabolic syndrome components after adjustment for BMI, suggesting that the relationship is not driven by body mass alone.
The exact pathophysiologic mechanism underlying the overly acidic urine in insulin resistance had not been fully explained, the researchers said. A low urine pH may result from increased acid excretion, impaired urinary buffering, or both, they suggested.
A limitation of the study was the evaluation of individuals while on random outpatients diets, because dietary factors may influence urine acidity, the investigators said.
The authors reported no financial conflicts. The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Kidney Foundation. Primary source: Clinical Journal of the American Society of NephrologySource reference: Maalouf NM, et al "Low Urine pH: A novel Feature of the Metabolic Syndrome" Clin j Am Soc Nephrol 2 2007: 883-888.

Soft Drinks Linked to Metabolic Syndrome Risk

BOSTON, July 23 -- Soft drinks, whether diet or regular, are associated with substantially increased metabolic syndrome risk among middle-age adults, according to a large community-based study.
Men and women who drank more than one soda daily had a 48% adjusted higher prevalence and 44% higher roughly eight-year adjusted incidence of the cluster of heart disease risk factors than those who drank less, reported Ramachandran S. Vasan, M.D., of Boston University, and colleagues, online in Circulation, Journal of the American Heart Association.
These results from an analysis of the Framingham Heart Study extend previous findings that soft drink consumption contributes to obesity and insulin resistance in children and hypertension in adults.
The surprising lack of difference in risk between artificially-sweetened and regular drinks implied that soda intake may be a marker for overall eating habits that contribute to risk, commented Richard Stein, M.D., of New York University, acting as an American Heart Association spokesperson.
"Heart disease is not a single-cause disease; clearly it's a lifestyle disease," he said, adding, "I think the answer is to look at all the diet factors and if you are getting enough exercise."
"I would consider this a wakeup call," he said. "If you have metabolic syndrome your risk goes up almost fourfold of having a heart attack over the next 10 years."
In the Framingham Heart Study, participants were followed for three consecutive periods spanning 1987 to 1995 with a physical exam, food frequency questionnaires, and fasting plasma lipid, glucose, and triglyceride measurements about every four years.
Overall there were 8,997 person-observations, of which 6,039 person-observations were among participants free of metabolic syndrome at baseline. The mean age was 52.9 in this prospective cohort.
Metabolic syndrome was defined having at least three of the following risk factors:
Waist circumference at least 35 inches for women or at least 40 inches for men.
Fasting blood glucose at least 100 mg/dL.
Serum triglycerides at least 150 mg/dL.
Blood pressure at least 135/85 mm Hg.
High-density lipoprotein cholesterol higher than 40 mg/dL for men or 50 mg/dL for women.
About 35% of the participants reported during the physician-administered questionnaire that they typically drank at least one 12-ounce soft drink per day. But 22% of reported drinking an average of at least one diet or regular soda per day on the self-administered food0frequency questionnaire.
In multivariable analysis adjusting for age, sex, physical activity, smoking, and intake of fat, total calories and other dietary factors, metabolic syndrome prevalence findings were:
48% higher among participants who reported drinking at least one diet or regular soft drink daily compared with those who did not report drinking soda on the physician-administered questionnaire (odds ratio 1.48, 95% CI 1.30 to 1.69).
1.80-fold higher among participants who drank one diet soda per day than those who reported drinking less than one a week on the self-administered questionnaire (95% confidence interval 1.45 to 2.25).
1.81-fold higher among participants who drank one regular soda per day than those who reported drinking less than one a week on the self-administered questionnaire (95% CI 1.28 to 2.56).
Likewise, the adjusted incidence was significantly higher with regular soft drink consumption but similar between regular and diet soda drinkers. The findings were:
44% higher among participants who reported drinking at least one diet or regular soft drink daily compared with those who did not report drinking soda on the physician-administered questionnaire (odds ratio 1.44, 95% CI 1.20 to 1.74).
1.53-fold higher among participants who drank one diet soda per day than those who reported drinking less than one a week on the self-administered questionnaire (95% confidence interval 1.10 to 2.15).
1.62-fold higher among participants who drank one regular soda per day than those who reported drinking less than one a week on the self-administered questionnaire (95% CI 0.96 to 2.75).
Incidence of individual metabolic syndrome traits was also 25% to 32% higher among participants who drank at least one soft drink per day, although the 18% higher odds of hypertension was only a trend (P=0.10).
The results were similar whether soda was caffeinated or decaffeinated.
However, the reason for the similarity between findings with sugar- versus artificially-sweetened drinks was unclear.
"The similar metabolic hazard posed by both regular and diet soft drinks is noteworthy given the lack of calories in the latter," the researchers noted.
"This is the first study to ever show there wasn't a distinction," Dr. Stein said.
But, the researchers noted that residual dietary confounding could have played a part because greater soft drink intake has been linked to more calorie and saturated and trans fats intake and less fiber, dairy, and physical activity.
The researchers said that public health policy to limit soft drink consumption in the community might be beneficial. But, Dr. Stein recommended a more global approach to the problem.
"For any given person among us it's not about stopping one food product," he said. "It's really about eating more fruits and vegetables, keeping our calories down, getting our exercise levels up, moderate restriction of salt…and making sure your portion size…is kept appropriate."
The study was supported through National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute contracts and by an award from the American Diabetes Association to one of the researchers. The researchers and Dr. Stein reported no conflicts of interest, although Dr. Stein is a spokesperson for the American Heart Association.Primary source: CirculationSource reference: Dhingra R, et al "Soft Drink Consumption and Risk of Developing Cardiometabolic Risk Factors and the Metabolic Syndrome in Middle-Aged Adults in the Community" Circulation. 2007;116.

Low-Carb Diets Combat Metabolic Syndrome

By Kathleen DohenyHealthDay ReporterFri Jul 20, 7:01 PM ET
FRIDAY, July 20 (HealthDay News) -- A low-carbohydrate diet helps people with a condition called metabolic syndrome, a collection of serious risk factors found in some obese individuals.
Now, a new study confirms the diet is effective against the syndrome, and the researchers think they've discovered how it works.
Eating a low-carb diet improves the hormonal signaling involved in obesity and improves the sense of fullness, allowing weight loss, according to study leader Matthew R. Hayes, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.
"There is this strong interest in the field in carb-restricted diets in the treatment of obesity," said Hayes, who conducted the research while a doctoral student at Pennsylvania State University. "That [interest] comes from a number of controlled clinical trials that demonstrate overweight or obese people, maintained on low-carb diets, are successful if they adhere to the diet."
"It's definitely a hot debate in the field," Hayes added, whether the diets work. "We wanted to look at not only if it worked but how."
People with metabolic syndrome struggle with excessive abdominal fat; low levels of HDL -- good -- cholesterol; and insulin resistance or glucose intolerance, in which the body doesn't properly use insulin or blood sugar. Metabolic syndrome raises the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and other serious health problems, according to the American Heart Association.
Hayes and his colleagues studied 20 men and women with metabolic syndrome, instructing them to follow a low-carb diet similar to the popular South Beach Diet. For phase one, which lasted two weeks, the study participants were told to get 10 percent of their calories from carbohydrates. For phase 2, which lasted the remaining 10 weeks of the study, they were told to eat up to 27 percent carbs.
"The subjects did lose weight, and they lost total body fat. Their weight was a little over 200 pounds when the study started. By the end of the study, the subjects weighed about 193, 194. They lost close to 10 pounds during the three-month study."
And, Hayes said, "By the end of the study, about 50 percent no longer had metabolic syndrome."
The study participants didn't follow the diets strictly, he found. "Phase one intake was 25 percent [carbohydrates], on average," he said, rather than the 10 percent recommended. "Phase two carb intake was 35 percent," he said, although 27 percent was recommended. But it was a reduction from the participants' pre-study diet, which included 47 percent of calories from carbohydrates, he said.
To find out why the weight declined, Hayes' team did hormone assays, measuring fasting and post-meal blood levels of hormones associated with appetite and food intake, such as insulin, leptin and cholecystokinin (CCK).
"We found some changes in hormone levels," he said. "We saw a decrease in insulin, a decrease in leptin levels by the end of phase one. It was fast."
"By the end of phase 2, the insulin levels had crept up toward baseline; the leptin levels also rose, but it did not come back to the levels at baseline," Hayes said.
"These alternations in hormone levels acting together help reduce the amount of food consumed," he said. "There's a synergy. Based on the literature already out there, we are speculating that this synergy of hormones may be the mechanism explaining why people are satisfied with less food and [the low-carb diet] results in weight loss."
However, Hayes emphasized that the study, published in the August issue of The Journal of Nutrition, was small and preliminary, and more research is needed.
Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis and president of the American Dietetic Association, also urged caution when interpreting the study findings. "The study is small in size, and the population is not extremely diverse," she said, although she thinks the study design was good.
"The study was focused on metabolic syndrome, so the outcomes may not be transferable to people who are overweight but do not have the syndrome, since the cause of the syndrome is still not clear," Diekman said.
More information
To learn more about metabolic syndrome, visit the American Heart Association.

Daily Pint of Milk May Lower Metabolic Syndrome Risk

CARDIFF, Wales, July 13 -- Men who drank at least a pint of milk daily were more than 60% less likely to develop metabolic syndrome than men who drank less milk, researchers reported here.
Moreover regular consumption of any dairy product reduced the risk of metabolic syndrome by 56%, but neither milk nor overall dairy product consumption significantly reduced the risk of new onset diabetes, reported Peter C. Elwood, M.D., of Cardiff University, and colleagues, in the August issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
The finding emerged from a study of 2,375 men who did not have diabetes at the time they were recruited for the Caerphilly Cohort Study (1979-1983). Men were 45 to 59 at baseline.
The risk of metabolic syndrome decreased as consumption of dairy products -- defined as milk, cheese, and yogurt -- increased so that men in the top quartile of dairy product consumption had an adjusted OR of 0.40 (95% CI 0.20-0.79), they wrote. Men who drank a pint or more of milk daily had a 0.38 OR for metabolic syndrome (95% CI 0.18-0.78).
About 15% of the men had metabolic syndrome at baseline, which was associated with a quadrupling of the 20-year relative risk of developing diabetes (RR 4.09, 95% CI 2.92-5.74), a 79% increase in relative risk of ischemic heart disease (RR 1.39 95% CI 1.36-2.37), and a 46% increase in relative risk of all death from any cause (RR 1.46, 95% CI 1.12-1.88), they wrote.
Food consumption was ascertained on the basis of a dietary questionnaires at baseline, which included specific questions about the quantity of milk and dairy products consumed daily. Additionally, 640 men kept a seven-day weighed dietary record.
Baseline examinations also measured plasma insulin, plasma glucose, body mass index, high-density lipoprotein and triglycerides, and blood pressure to identify men who had metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome was defined as the presence of two or more of these criteria:
Plasma insulin of 163 mmol/L or more and/or plasma glucose of 6.1 mmol/L or more.
BMI of 30 kg/m2 or higher.
HDL less than 0.92 mmol/L and/or triglycerides more than 3.25 mmol/L.
Systolic pressure of 166 mm Hg or higher and/or diastolic pressure of 104 mmHg or higher.
At five-year intervals men were re-examined, self-reported diabetes was recorded, and incident vascular events were identified.
The authors conceded that the protective effect of dairy products they found could be explained by unmeasured confounding factors but "it seems most unlikely that a factor or factors further to those for which adjustments have been made could explain, let alone reverse, the trends observed."
Moreover, they said the findings were similar to those reported in the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study and the CARDIA study. But the British Women's Heart and Health Study found that women who didn't drink milk had a reduced risk of metabolic syndrome.
Earlier this week, researchers from Tufts-New England Medical Center reported that dairy-rich diets, with high calcium and vitamin D intake, were associated with about a 30% reduction in risk of metabolic syndrome and about a 15% reduction in risk of diabetes. The diabetes risk reduction was only seen in those with glucose intolerance at baseline. (Dairy-Deficient Diet May Determine Diabetes Risk http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocrinology/Diabetes/tb2/6130?pfc=101&spc=230)
U.S. dairy producers had been aggressively promoting dairy products as way to spur weight loss, but in May the Federal Trade Commission ruled that "such claims are not supported by scientific research." The FTC action came in response to a petition brought by Physicians for Responsible Medicine.
The Caerphilly study was funded by the Medical Research Council of the United Kingdom. Dr. Elwood reported no financial conflicts. Primary source: Journal of Epidemiology and Community HealthSource reference: Elwood, PC et al "Milk and dairy consumption, diabetes and the metabolic syndrome: the Caerphilly prospective study" J Epidemiol Community Helath 2007; 61:695-698