Editorial: Functional Foods and Bioactive Food Ingredients in Prevention and Alleviation of Metabolic Syndrome

MEDINA, ROXANA BEATRIZ; GAUFFIN-CANO, PAOLA; TORRES, SEBASTIAN; ISLA, MARÍA INÉS; VASALLO MORILLAS, MARIA ISABEL

Frontiers in Nutrition

Frontiers Media S.A.

Año: 2021 vol. 8 p. 1 - 3

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a global metabolic disorder characterized by a constellation of interconnected risk factors, including central obesity (increased waist circumference), dysregulation of glucose (insulin resistance and hyperglycemia), hypertension, and dyslipidemia (hypertriglyceridemia and reduced HDL levels). Despite this clinical condition occur when three or more of these metabolic risk factors are present, abdominal obesity is a common denominator in MetS. The excess of visceral adiposity is a source of pro-inflammatory adipokines that contributes to the prevalence of chronic low-grade inflammation characteristic of MetS. Thus, expansion of abdominal adipose tissue can lead to oxidative stress, systemic inflammation, insulin resistance, and endothelial damage. The perpetuation of these dysfunctions, co-occurring with other metabolic derangements, can eventually develop into cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes mellitus, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, some obesity-related cancers, and cause early death. MetS is associated with several factors, including genetics, lifestyle, and chronic stress, among others, which favors dysregulation of energy balance, promoting fat accumulation. Chiefly, unhealthy lifestyles (physical inactivity, sleep disorders, stress mismanagement, Western dietary patterns, and smoking and drinking habits) have boosted the quick progress of the MetS. As a result, in this early twenty-first century, MetS incidence and prevalence have unrestraint increase, and this clinical condition has become a significant public health issue worldwide. It is estimated that the global prevalence of MetS is around 25% of the world population (over a billion people worldwide); however, this percentage increases in the adult population over 40 years old.