New study shows link between metabolic syndrome and cognitive abilities in U.S. adolescents

A new study of U.S. adolescents shows an association between metabolic syndrome and impairments in reading, attention, and working memory. Treatment can control and perhaps even reverse metabolic syndrome, which affects about 9% of teens in the U.S. and 12%-44% of obese adolescents, and may help reduce the cognitive effects described in the study published in Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free online on the Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders website.

In the article "Relationship Between Metabolic Syndrome and Cognitive Abilities in U.S. Adolescents," Muni Rubens, MD, MPH, PhD, and coauthors from Florida International University, Miami, and Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, evaluated the results of an array of tests to assess mathematics and reading ability, spatial visualization and motor skills, and working memory and attention. The researchers found impaired capabilities in specific areas associated with components of metabolic syndrome such as elevated systolic blood pressure, increased waist circumference, and higher fasting glucose.