What is Metabolic Disorder?

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Metabolic disorder is used generally to describe varied diseases affecting body metabolism. The causes range from hereditary factors, dietary habits and environmental influences. So as to understand the disorders of metabolism, it’s equally important to understand, as to what metabolism is. Metabolism is the process in which food that we eat is broken down and converted into simple components such as glucose which is the pnly component that can be used to convert to energy which is utilized for the various functions that the body can perform for the normal growth and functioning. The different kinds of foods that we eat, such as fats, carbohydrates and proteins are all borken down to fatty acids and glycyerol, glucose and amino acids consecutively.

What is a Metabolic Disorder?

There seems to be an association between cardiovascular diseases and metabolic disorder and has been known to medical world way back since the 1940's. But during the 1980's more researches revealed insightful connections between the cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorder and metabolic syndrome term was given to describe various metabolic risk factors under one designation. This term is also known as X syndrome or dysmetabolic syndrome. As of today metabolic disorder under the term metabolic syndrome is used widely by medical literature and lay press and covers the clusters of risk factors that cause cardiovascular disease.

What are the causes of metabolic disorder?

The prominent features of metabolic disorder include hypertension or blood pressure, insulin resistance, cholesterol abnormalities and enhanced clotting risk. Patients suffering from this disorder are usually overweight or obese. Disturbances in metabolic processes lead to metabolic disorders. In the normal metabolism process food is broken down into simple components like proteins, sugars and fats in a regulated way. When one of these steps is broken down then it can cause metabolic disorder. Such disorders can be due to hereditary influences and these are known as inborn errors of metabolism. Metabolic disorders can also be caused due to other serious health problems and diseases like respiratory or liver failure, cancer, HIV/AIDS, end stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

What are the treatments for metabolic disorder?

Treatment for metabolic disorder solely depends upon the cause of its occurrence. Inherited metabolic disorders are treated by nutritional counseling as well as support, physical therapy, periodic assessment, and various other supportive care remedies. In case of acquired metabolic syndrome, the treatment is directed towards normalizing the balance of metabolism by administration of medication and reversing of the cause.

Does obesity influences the occurrence of metabolic disorder?

Obesity or overweight problems are directly related to metabolic disorder. People who are obese are more prone to getting metabolic disorder. Such people find it difficult to maintain their normal weight and constantly have to watch their diet. The most important remedy or treatment is to maintain healthy lifestyle and nutritious diet intake. Obesity in itself is a major metabolic disease as the body in itself was never designed to carry such excess of weight. Additional pounds decrease the speed of metabolism and also cause insulin resistance. Though insulin resistanc  could also be hereditary, there has been a rise in diabetes TypeII which is related to overweight and obseity which comes to the conclusion that obesity causes insulin resistance. Obesity can lead to several other serious diseases like heart problems and liver problems. Overweight people hence should maintain their weight by exercising regularly and following a balanced diet. Apart from that they should go for regular check ups so as to control any problem arising due to metabolic disorder before one gets into serious health complications.

 

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