American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists

The Insulin Resistance Syndrome and Obesity Fact Sheet

Insulin Resistance Syndrome is a metabolic disorder that underlies some of the most deadly and costly diseases in the U.S. by placing people at a significantly higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease (CHD), and stroke.
Insulin resistance describes a condition that is characterized by decreased tissue sensitivity to the action of insulin; the body compensates by secreting even more insulin. Most people with insulin resistance are able to secrete enough insulin to maintain non-diabetic glucose levels. Eventually, some of them will go on to develop overt type 2 diabetes. Whether or not they develop diabetes, the majority of people with insulin resistance are at significantly increased risk for heart attack, stroke and other diseases.
In the past 10 years, rates of Insulin Resistance Syndrome have increased 61 percent, and one in three Americans is affected.
The key clinical signs of Insulin Resistance Syndrome are: high blood pressure, high triglyceride levels, low high-density lipoprotein (HDL), family history of diabetes and heart disease, and overweight/obesity.

Obesity is one of the primary clinical signs of Insulin Resistance Syndrome and the only indicator that does not require confirmation through clinical tests.
All the factors that comprise Insulin Resistance Syndrome can be interrelated. However, because overweight and obesity are risk factors for insulin resistance, high triglyceride levels, low HDL cholesterol, and high blood pressure, weight loss and exercise are recommended by most health professionals as a first step in treating Insulin Resistance Syndrome.

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), Body Mass Index (BMI), a calculation based on height and weight, is the measurement of choice for many obesity researchers and other health professionals. It is not gender specific.
BMI is determined by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by height in meters squared. A simple and easy way to determine BMI is to visit the BMI calculator on the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists' website at www.aace.com.
The NIH identifies overweight as a BMI of 25-29.9 and obesity as a BMI of 30 or greater.
Waist circumference is a measure of visceral fat indicating risk for Insulin Resistance Syndrome, and thus cardiovascular disease. However, we do not have a good standardized measurement for waist circumference and, therefore, BMI is recommended.

The World Health Organization recognizes obesity as a chronic disease and a global epidemic affecting an estimated 250 million people worldwide.
According to the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General, obesity will soon become the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S., surpassing smoking.
In the United States, overweight and obesity annually results in approximately 300,000 lost lives and a cost of approximately $117 billion in healthcare costs.
Being overweight or obese substantially increases the risk of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea and other respiratory problems, and certain types of cancers (endometrial, breast, prostate, and colon).

Modest weight loss, in the range of 5 to 10 percent of initial body weight, has been demonstrated to improve obesity-related conditions.
Recently, the Diabetes Prevention Program and the Finnish Diabetes Program showed that overweight patients who lost approximately five percent of their body weight reduced their risk for developing type 2 diabetes by 58 percent.
Intentional weight reduction of any amount in women 40- to 60-years of age who had never smoked reduced all-cause mortality by 20 percent and diabetes-associated mortality by 30 to 40 percent.
Modest weight reduction has also been associated with clinically significant improvements in hypertension.

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