This article describes a nutrition problem that is prevalent in today's society. It's estimated that most women have Metabolic Syndrome X in some capacity, and it affects our energy and our health in man ways. Examining our eating habits and educating ourselves on the nutritional process will take time, but the more we understand about this and other related issues, the more productive and healthy we will be.
Syndrome X is actually called Metabolic Syndrome X. This was discovered over 10 years ago, but scientists have been looking for this for 100 years.
What does it mean? Metabolic has to do with metabolism, the way our body uses energy. Syndrome means many diseases involved. X means "we don't know". So it's basically a bunch of diseases that relate to your metabolism that scientists don't know enough about. The cause of Syndrome X is now being discovered and determined.
In Syndrome X, the blood has high levels of sugar, but unlike diabetes, there is lots of insulin to process the sugar, but the sugar (food) is not getting in the cells to provide energy. You are tired.
A sign of having this Syndrome X would be a person who needs to eat sugar, carbohydrates, and caffeine to keep going throughout the day. They get an energy boost, which falls in an hour, and then they need another boost and another boost throughout the day.
Syndrome X is only found in industrialized countries and cities. It started when white flour and sugar came along with the industrial revolution in the 1800's. It got much worse when companies started using fructose to sweeten foods. It is 20 times sweeter than glucose (sugar). Your body can't handle all this sugar.
It is estimated that 99% of women have Syndrome X. Even if that statistic is high, that still means a lot of women have Syndrome X.
So, what's happening in the body with this Syndrome X? Let's say you eat an apple. Your body only absorbs 20% of the sugar contained in that apple. The same goes for corn on the cob. Bananas are higher at 40%. Watermelon is 10%. Eating these whole foods does not produce a huge amount of sugar (carbohydrates) for your body to deal with. The body makes a little insulin to go with the glucose which then goes into the liver. Then the glucose (energy) is sent to the cells along with insulin, which helps the sugar (energy) get into the cell.
Now, let's look at what happens when you eat white flour, sugar, or fructose (high fructose corn syrup, like the sugar in soft drinks).
A note to make here: Most all bread available is based on 'white flour'. Even wheat bread is made from 'white flour'. Bread made from flour that has been truly stone ground the old fashioned way is the only time you get away from 'white flour'. Stone ground flour will spoil in a week whereas processed flour will keep for years. That's why the industrialized societies changed to processed flour, but it has hurt our health. And the adverse effects are getting worse with each generation.
When your stomach sees flour or sugar coming, it tells the pancreas to make lots of insulin to deal with the large amounts of glucose from white flour (or sugar or fructose). This huge amount of sugar (because 100% is able to be absorbed) goes into the liver, which monitors all food. The liver tastes the blood and decides that it is too sweet, so it turns the sugar into fat, which then goes into the bloodstream.
This fat is the triglycerides in your blood. It is sugar converted to fat. White blood cells then gobble up this fat (because there's too much of it) and store it in your belly, hips, everywhere.
This fat, along with a second type produced (which cannot be broken down, the body can't burn it), will also cover and coat a cell. This covering of fat over the outside of a cell prevents food/glucose from getting into the cell to provide energy.
So, our cells aren't getting enough energy and we have to eat more sweets to give us a quick boost, causing the pancreas to secrete more insulin. I believe this constant secreting of insulin is what wears out the pancreas and gives people the tendency to get Type II Diabetes.
It's estimated that 70-90% of people have high triglycerides. This high blood sugar, turned into high fat by the liver, causes 70% of modern diseases.
Fat in the arteries leads to strokes and heart disease. Fatty deposits on the brain can lead to Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Multiple Sclerosis. DNA damage can lead to auto-immune diseases while unchecked cell growth in the body can lead to cancer.
When the liver breaks down fructose Very Low Density Lipoprotein (VLDL) is produced. This converts to Palmitic Acid, which goes inside the cell.
But when Palmitic Acid is in the cell it then converts to Salimide. This Salimide goes into the DNA and attacks it, causing a mutation. These mutations can make a person prone to certain types of cancer. They can also be the source of auto-immune diseases where the body attacks its own cells because it doesn't recognize them, due to the DNA damage.
These mutations also get passed on to our kids. This is why our children's health is not going to be as good as was our parent's health, unless we change our ways and teach our children how to live healthier lives.
So, basically, sugar converted to fat is damaging the genes in our DNA.
It will take 2-3 generations of improved attention to health and nutrition to fully correct damaged genes, but it is possible.
