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Health epidemic around corner

THERE is a new epidemic facing Australia. New international guidelines for metabolic syndrome, a cluster of symptoms that predisposes you to heart disease and diabetes, mean a million more Australians have the syndrome than previously thought.

Paul Zimmet, a Melbourne researcher who co-wrote the new guidelines, said the number of people with the syndrome had jumped from a quarter of all Australians to about one-third of the population under the updated diagnosis.

If left unchecked, the syndrome could reach epidemic proportions by 2025, affecting more than 330 million people worldwide, he warned.

Professor Zimmet is director of the International Diabetes Institute,

Central to the new diagnostic criteria is the presence of central obesity, or fat carried around the stomach. People who have central obesity are two to three times more likely to have a heart attack or stroke, and five times more likely to develop diabetes, than those who don't.

"If someone walks into a GP's room with a beer gut, it's an immediate alert to check these people out for heart disease or diabetes," Professor Zimmet said.

According to the new definition, a patient is judged to have metabolic syndrome if they have central obesity, as well as at least two of the other risk factors: high levels of triglycerides, or fats, in the blood; low levels of HDL, or "good" cholesterol; high blood pressure and raised blood glucose levels.

Central obesity is defined as a waist circumference of more than 94cm for men, and 80cm for women.

"Until now there's been about seven or eight sets of criteria around the world, which has been totally impractical," Professor Zimmet said.

"This is what we've been waiting for, a sensible, simple definition that can be used practically to highlight the people at risk."

Fat stored around the tummy is particularly risky because of the types of hormones it releases into the blood, which affect metabolism.

Endocrinologist Dr Neville Howard said Professor Zimmet was not being alarmist, warning that life expectancy would begin to drop if we did not heed these warnings.