By Rajen M

Research has shown that a cluster of symptoms that signals a body's metabolism has malfunctioned, is triggered by a diet rich in sugar and fat, and eating such food frequently and at odd hours .

Syndrome X and You

It kills and you could have it. Your co-worker or neighbour could be dying from it. Maybe, you mum and dad died because of it. If you were old enough, your children could be afflicted. Don't worry. It is not some new virus that you can "catch" and "pass on".

Sugar can be as bad for your heart as saturated fat. Photo: NST

The name - Syndrome X - was coined by Gerry Reaven of Stanford University in the late 1980s. It sounds threatening, and with good reason. Syndrome X is a hidden but life-threatening cluster of faulty body metabolism that is likely to hasten the death of anyone who has it. It's alarmingly common. One in five of us has it and we are more vulnerable to it as we age.

It is non-communicable. We bring it on ourselves by the way we eat. "We're suffering from chronic food intoxication," says Werner Waldhausl, editor of the journal Diabetologia.

Symptom Cluster

In well-fed parts of the world, a third of the adult population may have succumbed to it already, and there will be many more in future. Most will not be aware of the problem, with the early stages going unnoticed.

The symptoms are these: high blood pressure, raised levels of tell-tale fats called triglycerides in the blood, and insulin resistance, an acquired resistance to the body's vital glucose-handling hormone.

Diabetes and heart disease are lying in wait for anyone with this group of symptoms collectively known as Syndrome X. "The syndrome is a major cause of coronary heart disease," says Reaven.

So what causes it?

The usual suspects are being fat and lazy, and having bad genes. The latest studies of the biochemistry of Syndrome X give some good news. What we eat and how we eat it can make a difference.

The liver, it turns out, holds the secret to Syndrome X. Manipulating the behaviour of this organ could keep at bay the twin perils of heart disease and diabetes. Another discovery is that sugar could be as bad for your heart as saturated fat.

"We've long known that diets high in saturated fats are bad news," says Victor Zammit, head of cell biochemistry at the Hannah Research Institute in Ayr, Scotland.

But we don't have to eat saturated fats to find our bodies awash with these dangerous molecules. As our liver deals with the products of digestion, it can flood the bloodstream with deadly saturated fats that are already within the body. Anything that encourages the liver to do this could be just as bad as ingesting saturated fat itself.