Metabolic syndrome

Metabolic syndrome is the name for a cluster of conditions that tend to occur together — a large waist, raised blood pressure, high blood sugar, high triglycerides and low HDL cholesterol. Having several of them together defines the syndrome.

It matters because the combination substantially raises the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke — more than any single factor alone. It's common and often silent, driven largely by excess visceral fat and insulin resistance.

In practice, it's assessed from waist, blood pressure and a blood panel, and improves markedly with weight loss, regular exercise, better diet quality and, where needed, medical treatment.