Do you know your metabolic health?

Obesity and Health Risks

Obesity is a precursor to an array of health risks, especially heart disease and diabetes mellitus type II. The national obesity crisis is not a new concern, and it's widely accepted that maintaining a healthy weight can lower your risk of illness. Excess fatty tissues easily trigger an inflammatory response in the body, so the chances of getting sick are higher than in the normal weight range. It makes sense.

Obesity is prevalent, and so are chronic diseases such as type II diabetes over the years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2020), Diabetes affects nearly 34.2 million people in the United States. Estimates are that another 88 million people have pre-diabetes, and the total cost of Diabetes in the United States was $347 billion per CDC report (2021, May 21).

Will Maintaining a Healthy Weight Keep You Safe?

Surprisingly, having a healthy weight is not a guarantee of health. Did you know that people within the normal weight range who suffer from metabolic syndrome have the highest mortality rate? Shi, Wang, and Natarajan (2020) reported that metabolic syndrome in healthy-weight people is much higher in mortality from their rigorous decades of follow-up studies. Metabolic syndrome includes any combination of two or more conditions: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, low HDL (the "good" cholesterol), elevated blood sugar (pre-diabetes is blood glucose number between 100 and 125 after fasting 8 hours), or excess abdominal fat (defined as a waist circumference greater than 40 inches for men or 35 inches for women).

This revelation challenges the widely held belief that staying within a healthy weight range alone is enough to ensure good health. Most people only know they have a metabolic syndrome if the blood work is done and the doctor alarms it. Even after the lab report, many people have not changed their habits. Approximately 1 in 3 Americans have pre-diabetes right now. When people start having problems, medical intervention is usually required. So, why do we ignore those unhealthy habits causing abnormal metabolic health?

Asking the Why behind Unhealthy Habits

Culture plays a significant role in shaping our habits. People often feel pressured to drink socially because it's the norm in their environment. I remember starting to drink in college simply because it was tradition. Similarly, our food choices are often rooted in cultural customs. Take the classic American breakfast: bacon, eggs, and toast. If I chose fruits and vegetables as healthy choices, that would be a difficult menu for breakfast, but also very strange at the moment. The same applies to smoking—many young people start because it helps them fit into their social circle.

The truth is that not all cultural practices are good for our health. More and more people are beginning to realize that our unhealthy habits come at a steep price, a tax we pay with our health. Staying in the same habits is comfortable, but it is time to face the reality that change is necessary. Ask yourself which direction you are heading in the long run from your choice now. Are you willing to continue paying the "health tax" for poor habits, or are you ready to invest in a healthier future?

Reference

Shi, T. H., Wang, B., & Natarajan, S. (2020). The influence of metabolic syndrome in predicting mortality risk among U.S. adults: Importance of metabolic syndrome even in adults with normal weight. Preventing Chronic Disease, 17. https://doi.org/10.5888/pcd17.200020