Metabolic Syndrome & Insulin Resistance

sarasage ♦ July 22, 2020 ♦ 5 Comments

• Metabolic disease/disorder: Metabolism is the process body uses to get or make energy from the food we eat. A metabolic disorder occurs when abnormal chemical reactions in the body disrupt this process. There are different metabolic disorders; some affect the breakdown of amino acids, carbohydrates, or lipids, and some are mitochondrial diseases that affect cells’ energy production. One can develop a metabolic disorder when organs, such as the liver or pancreas, become diseased or do not function normally (e.g., diabetes and fatty liver disease).

Some experts consider these disorders also metabolic diseases: brain diseases such as Alzheimer and Parkinson’s disease as well as a disease with inflammatory and autoimmune root cases such as IBD (Irritable bowel disease; ulcerative colitis & Crohn’s disease), EoE (Eosinophilic esophagitis) and skin disorders such as Atopic dermatitis (eczema) and Psoriasis. 

• Metabolic syndrome: A group of conditions that will increase heart disease and diabetes. These conditions are:
  • High blood pressures
  • High blood glucose, or blood sugar, levels
  • High levels of triglyceride, a type of fat, in blood
  • Low levels of good cholesterol in the blood
  • Too much fat around the waist 

Other definitions

• Insulin: Hormone produced in the pancreas by the islets of Langerhans, which regulates the amount of glucose in the blood. The lack of insulin causes a form of diabetes. An animal-derived or synthetic form of insulin is used to treat diabetes.

• Insulin resistance: An impaired response of the body to insulin, resulting in elevated glucose levels in the blood (a key component of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome). Scientifically, Insulin resistance is defined clinically as the inability of a known quantity of exogenous (insulin people inject or infuse via an insulin pump) or endogenous insulin (insulin the pancreas makes) to increase glucose uptake and utilization in an individual as it does in an average population.

References:

https://medlineplus.gov/metabolicdisorders.html

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11460565

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6362431/