Will a child living with obesity be at a higher risk of developing metabolic syndrome when they are an adult? Provide research evidence to support your point of view. (20 marks)
– What to include:
– Total cholesterol criteria (pub med writer freedman et al 2001)
– Triglycerides criteria (freedman et al)
– Insulin (pub med writer)
– Disease outcome in relation to metabolic syndrome
– Discussion .
Metabolic syndrome is the term for a mixture of diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity. When children experience obesity in their earlier years, they are highly likely to experience metabolic syndrome when they become adults.
Obesity results from an unhealthy diet, lack of physical exercise, environmental factors, and genetic factors. If this condition is not prevented earlier enough, there is a high chance of causing metabolic syndrome to children when they become adults.
Obesity-related morbidity can cause fatty infiltration of the liver and alter glucose metabolism when the child becomes an adult. It causes a reduction in peripheral insulin production, which is crucial for regulating blood sugars (Fang et al., 2019).
Therefore, it becomes challenging for the conversion of excessive sugars in the body leading to diabetes. In adulthood, high triglyceride concentrations and low HDL cholesterol cause dyslipidaemia, leading to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease
