by Brio Personal Training
5. February 2010 17:43
Syndrome X or The Metabolic Syndrome is a cluster of diseases that tend to occur together. These are also called the western diseases or diseases of civilization because they occur in astronomically high numbers in western society and are virtually non-existent in more traditional living areas of the world. The diseases are: obesity (specifically abdominal obesity), high blood pressure, heart disease, impaired blood sugar regulation, Type 2 diabetes, and unhealthy levels of blood lipids (dyslipidemia). When the theory was first proposed that these affilications might be related it was hypothesized that obesity was the cause of the other surrounding diseases. We now know that obesity (the excess accumulation of body fat) is just another symptom of an underlying disorder - a hormonal disruption that leads to the unregulated growth of many tissues, not just fat tissue. The underlying disorder is hyperinsulinemia... in normal language that's too much insulin. Insulin is uniquely stimualted by dietary carbohydrate so too much insulin is very likely caused by too much carbohydrate. But the list of disease linked to hormonal disruption of insulin production is growing and no longer limited to the handful named above. To the list we can add:
- acne
- early first menustral cycle in young girls
- cancer
- increased stature (we're taller than we used to be)
- skin tags
- hyperpigmentation of the skin
- female infertility
- male pattern baldness
From Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology... Hyperinsulinemic diseases of civilization: more than just Syndrome X
Abstract
Compensatory hyperinsulinemia stemming from peripheral insulin resistance is a well-recognized metabolic disturbance that is at the root cause of diseases and maladies of Syndrome X (hypertension, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, coronary artery disease, obesity, abnormal glucose tolerance)... Insulin is a well-established growth-promoting hormone, and recent evidence indicates that hyperinsulinemia causes a shift in a number of endocrine pathways that may favor unregulated tissue growth leading to additional illnesses... These endocrine shifts alter cellular proliferation and growth in a variety of tissues, the clinical course of which may promote acne, early menarche [first menustral period], certain epithelial cell carcinomas [cancer], increased stature, myopia [poor vision], cutaneous papillomas (skin tags), acanthosis nigricans [hyperpigmentation of the skin], polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) [the leading cause of female infertility] and male vertex balding. Consequently, these illnesses and conditions may, in part, have hyperinsulinemia at their root cause and therefore should be classified among the diseases of Syndrome X.