Cardiovascular disease and diabetes are the leading causes of death worldwide and they have been named the silent killer of the twenty-first century. The dramatic increase in the incidence of heart, stroke and diabetic disease in the last century made it an epidemic and a primary public health concern, sometimes referred to as Cardiometabolic Syndrome in medical terms.
Cardiometabolic disease is an aggregation of risk factors for conditions such as stroke, heart failure, diabetes and peripheral artery disease. Medical diagnoses of high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, high blood sugar, and obesity are commonly observed. Combined in one patient, this set of conditions poses a serious health risk for heart attack, stroke, diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s and many other chronic diseases.
These diseases are interrelated which increases the cardiometabolic syndrome risk manifold. The underlying phenomenon behind these risks factors is inflammation. In general terms, inflammation is the body’s natural defense system to protect itself against harm. During inflammation, the body responds to viruses, bacteria, damaged cells and other foreign substances. Acute inflammation is a good thing and a sign of a healthy immune response. However, factors such as poor nutrition, sedentary lifestyle, excess of fat cells, smoking, toxins and stress can lead to chronic inflammation, reflecting an overactive immune system where the body is continuously responding with defense cells and hormones that lead to tissue damage.
The bad news is that the conditions develop silently as the symptoms do not manifest until later stages of the disease. In other words, individuals can be sick and accumulate serious damage associated to these risk factors without knowing it – or doing anything to prevent it until it might be too late. In fact, chronic disease, disability and death affect a significant proportion of the population. Obesity if often described as the main culprit and recent data shows that nearly one-third of the world’s population is obese or overweight. According to Dr. Christopher Murray, Director of the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, an independent global health research organization at the University of Washington, “obesity is an issue affecting people of all ages and incomes, everywhere (and) in the last three decades, not one country has achieved success in reducing obesity rates.”
The good news is that the risk of cardiometabolic disease is preventable and treatable. In a report issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2011, it was stated that at least one quarter of the 800,000 deaths annually caused by cardiovascular disease could be prevented if people stopped smoking, reduced sugar and salt intake, eliminated trans fats, exercised and adopted healthy lifestyles. Indeed, studies and program results demonstrate that substantial risk reductions can be achieved based on simple lifestyle changes alone.
Taking effective control also involves learning about risk factors and how to mitigate them, proper screening to understand the status of the inflammatory responses in the body, and a proper intervention program. Silent inflammation and chronic disease may be a current medical reality, but with lifestyle changes and successful detoxification and regeneration programs, healthy aging and longevity are possible.
