Dr. Curtis McElroy

Tag: metabolic syndrome

  • Metabolic Disorders

    Metabolic Disorders 

    Metabolic disorders come in several types. There are inherited metabolic disorders by the hundreds, which involve an individual lacking an enzyme that metabolizes a certain amino acid or other chemical substrate, resulting in a buildup of toxic chemicals in the system. These are relatively rare disorders affecting one out of every 1000 babies born. Some metabolic disorders are screened for in early infancy at the time the child is born. This is done so that treatment can begin early in life and complications do not develop.

    Common Inherited Metabolic Disorders:

    Inherited metabolic disorders are not that common but, because the treatment can be as simple as giving a child a certain enzyme or avoiding certain foods, they are screened for at the time of neonatal screening to give the child the best chance of survival without complications.

    Some of these metabolic disorders include:

    • Tay-Sachs disease
    • Galactosemia
    • Phenylketonuria
    • Wilson’s disease
    • Hurler syndrome
    • Niemann-Pick disease

    These metabolic disorders affect an individual from the time they are born. If treated early and for the rest of the person’s life, complications can be spared and the person can live a normal life.

    Acquired Metabolic Disorders

    Much more common are acquired metabolic disorders. Common metabolic disorders include diabetes mellitus type 2, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, and metabolic syndrome. These usually affect adults and are either autoimmune diseases or diseases brought on by unhealthy lifestyles.

    Let’s look at these more common diseases:

    • Grave’s Disease. This is a disorder of elevated thyroid hormone production. It is an autoimmune disease in which an individual makes antibodies, which attack the thyroid gland, turning on thyroid function and resulting in the production of too much thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) hormones. People with Grave’s disease have an overactive metabolism and suffer from symptoms like rapid heart rate, elevated temperature, agitation, nervousness, weight loss, and tremor. A typical feature of Grave’s disease is exophthalmos, in which the eyeballs appear to bulge from the eye sockets. The treatment of this particular disorder is to give radioactive iodine to destroy the cells of the thyroid gland, creating a low thyroid condition, which is treated by giving back the right amount of thyroid hormone in pill form. If not treated, Grave’s disease can lead to a potentially life-threatening condition known as thyrotoxicosis in which there is a dangerously elevated metabolism.

    • Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. This is a low thyroid condition in which autoantibodies attack the cells responsible for making thyroid hormones. The thyroid hormones T4 and T3 are responsible for the maximization of cellular metabolism. When the cells cannot metabolize well, they become sluggish and do not function well. Typical symptoms of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis include sluggish mood, depression, weight gain, constipation, dry skin, and dry hair. The cells cannot metabolize food well so that nutrients go to make fat while the cells themselves are starved of nutrition.

    • Type 2 diabetes. This is an extremely common metabolic disorder caused by genetic factors as well as lifestyle factors. The exact role of each of these factors varies from person to person. Certainly, if you have a first degree relative who has diabetes (such as a sibling or parent); you have an elevated risk of developing this disorder. Eating too much, gaining weight, and exercising too little, also contribute to getting type 2 diabetes.

    The main problem in type 2 diabetes is insulin resistance. For whatever reason, the cells do not respond to the amount of insulin in the system. In spite of elevated levels of insulin, the glucose does not enter the cells to be used as fuel for cellular metabolism. Elevated levels of glucose further raise the insulin, which is forced to put away the extra glucose levels as fat. Type 2 diabetics tend to be overweight, with an elevated fat to total body ratio. This means that all cellular processes tend to be less than adequate because the cells have to work harder to get all the fuel they need and, instead of providing the adequate nutrition for the cells, the glucose turns to fat.

    There are often no real symptoms of type 2 diabetes unless it becomes severe. Things like the immune system are affected so that healing is poor, circulation can become compromised, and the type 2 diabetic is prone to typical diabetic complications, including diabetic neuropathy (damaged peripheral nerves), diabetic retinopathy (blindness secondary to vascular disease in the eyes), cardiovascular disease, and kidney failure. This is why screening for diabetes is so important. By the time symptoms are present, there is often end-organ damage, which cannot be reversed.

    • Metabolic syndrome. This is a relatively common, yet serious metabolic disorder affecting men and women alike, and according to the American Heart Association, 47 million Americans have it and many don’t know they do. People with metabolic syndrome are suffering from insulin resistance so that most of them have elevated blood sugars and diabetes. They also tend to have truncal obesity with relatively thinner arms and legs and with most of the fat around the abdomen. The triglycerides can be dangerously high so the individual is at risk for pancreatitis secondary to hypertriglyceridemia. HDL cholesterol levels tend to be low, which means there is an increased risk of cardiovascular complications. High blood pressure is also a common feature of metabolic syndrome.

    The increased risk of cardiovascular complications is what makes metabolic syndrome so dangerous. These people go on to develop a stroke, heart attack, or peripheral vascular disease. The diabetic component of the disease affects the nerves, eyes, and kidneys. The best treatment is to lose weight and to reduce the blood sugar, triglycerides, and blood pressure. Not much is yet known about metabolic syndrome in terms of why some people get it and others do not. Doctors are left with treating symptoms and lab values when the real problem of obesity is not easily addressed.

    For those who are diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, reduction in weight through a low calorie diet and exercise is the best way to prevent the complications of the disorder. This takes a long-term commitment to better health and a healthier lifestyle. Metabolic disease may have a genetic component but most doctors feel that the bulk of the disorder is triggered by poor lifestyle choices, which is something that most people have some control over.

  • What Is Metabolic Syndrome

    What Is Metabolic Syndrome

    Metabolism plays a big factor that not enough people think about when it comes to their health. Metabolic syndrome is a collection of three or more risk factors that are present because of the body’s inability to burn food properly throughout the day, or when exercising.

    When the body can’t burn food as a fuel properly, it stores more fat – typically at nighttime – and when people exercise, they burn the food they eat as energy rather than fat cells.

    Most people assume a fast metabolism is for skinny people and slow metabolism makes it hard to lose weight, but an unbalanced metabolism has more risk factors than just weight.

    People with slow metabolisms are at a higher risk for increased blood pressure, high cholesterol, and insulin resistance – which all can lead to more diseases. Weight, age, race, diabetes and other factors all play a role in how your metabolism functions, and typically those who are older, out of shape, and have poor lifestyle choices run a higher risk for metabolic diseases.

    The reason thinner people have a higher metabolism is because their body naturally burns fat on its own, which is why some people can eat thousands of calories and not gain a pound.

    Just because you may have a slower metabolism, it doesn’t mean that you can’t change it. Better nutrition choices, more water, and consistent exercise is a great way to improve metabolic function to help your body burn fat more efficiently.

    If you have the money to invest in your health, you can call your doctor about getting your metabolism tested. Active metabolic assessments will show you how your body burns fuel – whether it burns carbs or fats during your workouts at different heart rate zones

    Resting metabolic assessments are great for knowing how your body burns fuel outside of your time spent working out. If you don’t wish to invest in an assessment, there are free calculations such as the bronze method that can be done at no cost online for an educated guess.

    Knowing where to start is a crucial part of improving your metabolism and preventing metabolic syndrome because everyone has a different heartrate zone to begin with. After about two to three months of changing to healthier eating habits, staying hydrated, and conditioning, your metabolism – through easy to moderate intensity cardio – should start to show improvements in how your body burns fat.

    Increasing your metabolism will not only help you slim down faster and prevent a plethora of diseases, but it will give you more energy and an overall more enjoyable and active life.

  • Working People And Sitting Disease

    Working People And Sitting Disease

    A significant percentage of working people sit in front of a computer all day as part of their job, not realizing that they are increasing their risk of developing certain types of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, even if they take the time to get out there and exercise.

    According to the University Health Network (UHN), more than half of all people spend their days being sedentary, either working at a computer or sitting in front of a television.

    The research study by the UHN indicated that even if a person exercises, sitting too much can cause adverse effects on the body.

    The research study looked at 47 other primary research studies that looked into the effect of sitting and the risk of death. The article was published in the journal, Annals of Internal Medicine. It found that the risk of death among people who sit most of the day is 24 percent higher than those who didn’t sit as much.

    It indicated that sitting eight hours a day is probably considered the cut-off for sitting “too much.”

    The risk of heart disease deaths were 18 percent higher in sitters and the risk of death due to cancer was 17 percent higher.

    Those who sat too much had a 13-14 percent greater chance of developing type 2 diabetes.

    The risk of dying from endometrial, ovarian, colorectal, colon, and breast cancer was particularly high among people who sat too much.

    While exercise improved the risk of dying from these diseases, it didn’t reduce the risk completely.

    Exercising resulted in a 33 percent less chance of dying compared to those who didn’t exercise at all. The studies involved almost 830,000 people so it safe to say that the results of the study were accurate.

    It recommended that people stand more and exercise more in order to reduce their risk of these diseases.

    Sitting Disease

    While not technically a medical diagnosis, there is such a thing as “sitting disease” that is more prominent among professional entrepreneurs who don’t exercise and spend much of their time sitting.

    It refers to having a metabolic disease caused by excessive sitting. It is a serious disease, causing as many deaths as patients who are smokers.

    According to experts, the amount of time commuting to and from work plus the amount of time sitting at home is more than 7 hours per day.

    People with sitting disease are 94 percent more likely to die from cancer, heart disease, or diabetes.

    Men who sit more at work had a 48 percent greater incidence of death from various causes when compared to men who weren’t “sitters.”

    Around 60 percent of workers indicated that they would be more productive if they were allowed to stand more than sit during their workday.

    Fortunately, about 2/3 of employers offered desks to their employees that allowed them to adjust the desk so they could stand at least some of the time.

    Besides cancer, heart disease, and cancer, having “sitting disease” increased the chances of being obese or having metabolic syndrome, which is a disease that affects glucose metabolism, triglyceride levels, blood pressure, and the risk of heart disease.

    Another study looked at people who sit too much in front of the television. They compared the risk of various diseases in people who sat in front of the TV for less than two hours per day to people who sat in front of the TV for more than 4 hours per day.

    People who sat in front of some sort of screen had a 50 percent greater chance of dying from any type of disease and a 125 percent increased risk of developing heart diseases, including heart attack, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease.

    The study made some recommendations as to how people could spend less time sitting.

    Some examples included the following:

    Work while running on a treadmill, even if the pace is slow

    Do laps during conferences rather than sitting around a table for the conference

    Try buying or acquiring a standing desk or use a counter to do your work on

    Stand during lunch or when using the telephone

    It turns out that any type of movement can decrease your risk. Even if you don’t exercise but instead just stand all day, your chances of dying from heart disease or other diseases related to sitting are greatly diminished.

Copyright @ 2017 DrCurtisMcElroy