Only 12 percent of American adults are metabolically healthy, study finds
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181128115045.htm
The prevalence of metabolic health in American adults is 'alarmingly low,' even among people who are normal weight, according to a new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Gillings School of Global Public Health. Only one in eight Americans is achieving optimal metabolic health. This carries serious implications for public health since poor metabolic health leaves people more vulnerable to developing Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other serious health issues.
This study, published Nov. 28 in the journal Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders, presents the most updated U.S. data on metabolic health, which is defined as having optimal levels of five factors: blood glucose, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, blood pressure, and waist circumference, without the need for medications.
For the study, researchers examined National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data from 8,721 people in the United States between 2009 and 2016 to determine how many adults are at low versus high risk for chronic disease. Data revealed that only 12.2 percent of American adults are metabolically healthy, which means that only 27.3 million adults are meeting recommended targets for cardiovascular risk factors management.
In the last decade the thresholds for common health measures, for example those that are used to determine if someone has high blood pressure or blood sugar levels, have been lowered by respected professional medical societies. These more restrictive guidelines may mean that a smaller proportion of people are meeting the optimal levels for the cardiovascular risk factors.