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American Morning
Syndrome Increases Risk of Heart Attack, Stroke by 200 Percent
Aired December 05, 2002 - 08:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go ahead and talk about a little bit of health. No secret that being overweight can lead to some health problems, but that excess weight can also increase the risk of developing a little known and potential deadly condition. It's called metabolic syndrome.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta here to tell us more. Basically, Sanjay, we are talking pot bellies.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we are. Pot bellies, no question about it. There is a lot more to it. "Syndrome X" it was called for a while, people really didn't know how to define this thing.
It's been around for a little while, the metabolic syndrome, as we are now calling it. A third of all middle-aged American men and women have it. Middle-aged, incidentally, defined as 42 to 60. That translates to about 47 million Americans have this thing called metabolic syndrome.
And what it is a cluster of things that you've heard about several times in the past. Obesity, but not just obesity. We are talking about pot bellies, as you say, Daryn, abdominal obesity in men, circumference of the waist 40 inches or more, women 35 inches. Elevated blood sugars, 110 fasting glucose. People who are concerned about that know these numbers.
Elevated cholesterol levels, 150, and that is lower of the good kind of cholesterol, more of the bad kind of cholesterol. High blood pressure defined at 140 over 85.
All these things together sort of, Daryn, appear to have a problem in terms of actually causing increased risk of dying from heart attacks and stroke.
But here is the sort of interesting thing. We are not talking about just slightly elevated risks. We get excited in the medical world when we hear about an elevated risk of 10 to 20 percent. Two hundred to 300 percent increased risk of dying of a heart attack or stroke if you have this syndrome.
So, while it's things that you have heard about, a lot of people have this, and don't even know it and probably need to be concerned about it.
KAGAN: Well, just if you are thick around the waist doesn't necessarily mean you have it. How do you ask your doctor to check for it?
GUPTA: Well, there is a bunch of different clusters of factors, including the abdominal girth, as we are calling it, but also all those other things, the blood sugar, the high cholesterol, the high blood pressure. Again, all of those things that you've heard about, a lot of doctors haven't heard about it yet, and they are starting to hear about it more and more.
Doctors who study hormones particularly, endocrinologists, have been studying this for quite some time. Family practitioners are starting to learning more about it now. But this is really a syndrome, it is a cluster of things put together, so you really need to measure all these things sort of individually. So you may think, You know what, I may be a little big around the waist, but my cholesterol is just a little bit elevated, my blood sugar is not that bad. Well, if you start to have a bunch of these symptoms together, no matter how subtle, that can be a problem.
KAGAN: And just real quickly, treatment for it?
GUPTA: Well, treatment is going to be, again, stuff that you've heard about before.
KAGAN: And we don't want to hear.
GUPTA: Eat right and exercise for sure. But let me tell you, even more importantly than that, most people who have this don't know they have it, so the biggest treatment, the biggest way to try to get this thing kicked is to know that you have it. If you feel that you might have it, go get this checked out. I just told you, I myself am going to go see my doctor this month as well.
KAGAN: We will have to check to see if you are in the fine shape that we know that you are. OK. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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Aired December 5, 2002 - 08:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go ahead and talk about a little bit of health. No secret that being overweight can lead to some health problems, but that excess weight can also increase the risk of developing a little known and potential deadly condition. It's called metabolic syndrome.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta here to tell us more. Basically, Sanjay, we are talking pot bellies.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we are. Pot bellies, no question about it. There is a lot more to it. "Syndrome X" it was called for a while, people really didn't know how to define this thing.
It's been around for a little while, the metabolic syndrome, as we are now calling it. A third of all middle-aged American men and women have it. Middle-aged, incidentally, defined as 42 to 60. That translates to about 47 million Americans have this thing called metabolic syndrome.
And what it is a cluster of things that you've heard about several times in the past. Obesity, but not just obesity. We are talking about pot bellies, as you say, Daryn, abdominal obesity in men, circumference of the waist 40 inches or more, women 35 inches. Elevated blood sugars, 110 fasting glucose. People who are concerned about that know these numbers.
Elevated cholesterol levels, 150, and that is lower of the good kind of cholesterol, more of the bad kind of cholesterol. High blood pressure defined at 140 over 85.
All these things together sort of, Daryn, appear to have a problem in terms of actually causing increased risk of dying from heart attacks and stroke.
But here is the sort of interesting thing. We are not talking about just slightly elevated risks. We get excited in the medical world when we hear about an elevated risk of 10 to 20 percent. Two hundred to 300 percent increased risk of dying of a heart attack or stroke if you have this syndrome.
So, while it's things that you have heard about, a lot of people have this, and don't even know it and probably need to be concerned about it.
KAGAN: Well, just if you are thick around the waist doesn't necessarily mean you have it. How do you ask your doctor to check for it?
GUPTA: Well, there is a bunch of different clusters of factors, including the abdominal girth, as we are calling it, but also all those other things, the blood sugar, the high cholesterol, the high blood pressure. Again, all of those things that you've heard about, a lot of doctors haven't heard about it yet, and they are starting to hear about it more and more.
Doctors who study hormones particularly, endocrinologists, have been studying this for quite some time. Family practitioners are starting to learning more about it now. But this is really a syndrome, it is a cluster of things put together, so you really need to measure all these things sort of individually. So you may think, You know what, I may be a little big around the waist, but my cholesterol is just a little bit elevated, my blood sugar is not that bad. Well, if you start to have a bunch of these symptoms together, no matter how subtle, that can be a problem.
KAGAN: And just real quickly, treatment for it?
GUPTA: Well, treatment is going to be, again, stuff that you've heard about before.
KAGAN: And we don't want to hear.
GUPTA: Eat right and exercise for sure. But let me tell you, even more importantly than that, most people who have this don't know they have it, so the biggest treatment, the biggest way to try to get this thing kicked is to know that you have it. If you feel that you might have it, go get this checked out. I just told you, I myself am going to go see my doctor this month as well.
KAGAN: We will have to check to see if you are in the fine shape that we know that you are. OK. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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