Almost 1 million U.S. teenagers who are overweight are at increased risk for developing diabetes and premature heart disease later in life, according to researchers. Metabolic syndrome is a condition associated with being overweight and “is perhaps the earliest warning sign of developing health problems”, Washington Post reported.

“It’s frighteningly common,” said Michael Weitzman, director of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Center for Child Health Research, who helped conduct the first-of-its-kind research. “It’s very, very disturbing. You’re talking about people who haven’t even become adults yet who are already on the way to cardiovascular disease.”

Symptoms often include a disproportionately large waist, high blood pressure, high blood levels of fatty chemicals called triglycerides, low levels of “good cholesterol” and high blood sugar.

Metabolic syndrome is also called syndrome X and the insulin resistance syndrome.

“Metabolic syndrome is extremely concerning because it likely precedes the onset of diabetes, and increases the risk for cardiovascular disease,” said Sonia Caprio, a metabolic syndrome expert at Yale University School of Medicine.

“This is a very, very important public health issue. The numbers are telling us these children are at very high risk for serious problems later on, and if we don’t change their status, these are going to be people with diabetes in their twenties or thirties and their first heart attack in their forties,” Caprio said.

Washington Post reported “The risk for diabetes and heart disease drops sharply for those who have metabolic syndrome if they lose weight.”.

(via Washington Post)