Profile of a killer syndrome

Industrialization and urbanization have indeed rapidly caught up on us. There are fastfood outlets and supermarkets on any available space of commercial land, perpetually feeding our insatiable appetite for fatty and salty foods. Schoolchildren will rather take a ride than to walk a few blocks to school. Our idea of exercise is by clicking the television remote control rather than walking our dog in the nearby park.

What have been mentioned above may not signal an alarm to most of us. But they should. Our increasing exposure to unhealthy lifestyle (read: sedentary life and lousy diet) causes our bodies to develop risk factors such as obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia (abnormal cholesterol levels in the bloodstream) and glucose intolerance or the inability of the body’s cells to metabolize glucose. When these risk factors cluster, it is called "metabolic syndrome."

It was in the late 1980s when American health expert Dr. Gerald Reaven of the Stanford Medical Center first characterized the fatal clustering of these risk factors and called it metabolic syndrome. Since then, it has been called metabolic syndrome or insulin resistance syndrome.

Based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), one in every five adults has metabolic syndrome. Although Europe and North America have seen a decrease in the incidence of CVD during the last decade, the developing world, especially Asia, is fast catching up.

People with metabolic syndrome face a three-fold increased risk of developing (and dying from) cardiovascular diseases (CVD) such as heart attack and stroke.

Recent data from the National Health Survey showed that 14-20 percent of Filipinos above 20 years old already have metabolic syndrome. A study by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute presented by Dr. Rody Sy noted that one in every five Filipino adults has metabolic syndrome, but is unaware of it. Obesity is one of the major culprits in the increasing prevalence of this syndrome.

According to Dr. Ricardo Fernando of the Institute for the Study of Diabetes, the increasing prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the Philippines can be attributed to the "eat-all-you-can culture" of Filipinos.

"The results are disastrous because once clinical obesity is developed, it predisposes to other risk factors and serious complications of metabolic syndrome which may be very difficult to reverse," said Fernando.

According to health experts, treating metabolic syndrome can significantly prevent the onset of stroke and heart attack. Lifestyle modification, such as regular exercise and low fat and salt diet, is still the first-line treatment.

However, this may not be enough and therapy might require pharmacological intervention.

One of the drugs being used to treat symptoms of metabolic syndrome is fenofibrate. This drug lowers high levels of LDL-C or bad cholesterol and triglycerides, and increases high levels of HDL-C or good cholesterol (the lipid triad).

This reversing effect of fenofibrate on the lipid triad halts the progression of atherosclerosis, a condition characterized by the hardening and narrowing of blood vessels. This consequently prevents the development of stroke and heart attack.

Filipino-owned Patriot Pharmaceuticals Corp. will soon launch its own brand of fenofibrate. This, the company hopes, will increase the Filipinos’ chances of winning the battle against metabolic syndrome.

Fenofibrate is a drug that should only be taken upon a doctor’s advice.