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<\/p>\nThis is a pertinent question we should all be asking ourselves. As it appears that no matter what age you are, 40 or 80, if you\u2019re \u2018metabolically\u2019 unhealthy or have signs of metabolic syndrome you’re more likely to suffer from illness. Being metabolically healthy also reduces your risk of developing other more slow-growing chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, cancer or dementia.<\/p>\n
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Typically, metabolic health screening is picked up during an annual medical, whereby a doctor determines what is metabolically healthy based on fulfilling 5 criteria. The National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel (NCEP ATPIII) back in 2002, devised a definition for what is called metabolic syndrome. Those criteria are based around:<\/p>\n
If a person has 3 of the 5 criteria met then you are classified as having metabolic syndrome, or in other words, you are \u2018metabolically unhealthy\u2019. Metabolism covers many key elements in the body, but by zoning in on glucose and lipid metabolism we can really get a feel as to the likelihood of someone\u2019s future risk of chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes. But from a functional medicine perspective there\u2019s a real issue here, and that is that most people if tested under those parameters would pass, giving a false sense of optimal health, but in reality, these reference points are set too leniently.<\/p>\n