Most people who have metabolic syndrome are completely unaware.  It is a cluster of disorders with your body's metabolism, each of these disorders is by itself a risk factor for other diseases.  In combination, they dramatically boost your chance for developing life-threatening illnesses.

Information about metabolic syndrome is just starting to show up in the popular press, even though doctors have debated its existence for years.  Today, most medical professionals accept the syndrome, not as a disease but rather as a cluster of risk factors.  Still, metabolic syndrome is under recognized and most of the over 40 million Americans with it remain undiagnosed.

Each one of the conditions involved in metabolic syndrome is a risk factor for other diseases. When they come together, they can dramatically multiply your risk of developing heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.  If you have all the components of metabolic syndrome, you are six times as likely to get heart disease than someone who has none of the risk factors.

Here's a look at the key medical disorders that come together in metabolic syndrome:

• Central obesity. The location of body fat is important. If fat accumulates mostly around your stomach (central obesity is sometimes called apple-shaped obesity), you are at greater risk for type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and cardiovascular disease than people who are lean or people with fat around the hips (called peripheral or pear-shaped obesity). Obesity is linked to 280,000 deaths in the United States each year, making it second only to cigarette smoking as a cause of death.
• Hypertriglyceridemia.  If you have very high levels of triglycerides in your blood, you have hypertriglyceridemia and are at increased risk of developing heart disease. Triglycerides are a group of fatty compounds that circulate in the bloodstream and are stored in your fat tissue. Very high triglycerides can cause health problems including pancreatitis and enlarged liver and spleen. High-fat foods, weight gain, and aging are some of the things that cause high triglyceride concentrations in the blood.
• Low HDL cholesterol.  Cholesterol is a type of fat that is needed for many bodily functions, such as the production of hormones. It comes from food sources and is also manufactured in your body by the liver. There are two forms of blood cholesterol. Low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is known as the 'bad' cholesterol because it contributes to heart disease by sticking to and narrowing blood vessels. High density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is known as the 'good' cholesterol because it keeps LDL levels in check and helps protect against heart disease. The opposite is also true: low levels of HDL cholesterol increase the risk of heart attack.
• Hypertension, or elevated blood pressure, indicates that the heart is working harder than normal, putting both the heart and the arteries under a greater strain. This may contribute to heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure and atherosclerosis. If high blood pressure isn't treated, the heart may have to work progressively harder to pump enough blood and oxygen to the body's organs and tissues to meet their needs.
• Fasting hyperglycemia is when blood glucose stays above a desirable level after you have not eaten for at least eight hours. It occurs when the body does not have enough insulin or cannot use the insulin it has to turn glucose into energy. This condition can signal the start of type 2 diabetes, a disease that can increase your risk for a heart attack or stroke, as well as damage your eyes, nerves or kidneys.