Disease Mongering - Big ole Metabolic Syndrome

Does Metabolic Syndrome exist?

Skeptics, which include the American Diabetes Association, suggest that researchers, physicians, and pharmaceutical companies have been so hasty to embrace the disease (each for their own reasons), they've overlooked evidence that the science behind the diagnosis is flimsy and conjectural. These critics say that so-called metabolic syndrome lumps together risks we already recognize and monitor – or worse, that it's just a fancy way to describe obesity. By accepting it, we medicalize a lifestyle condition that we already know how to treat: with diet and exercise.

The debate is hardly academic. The pharmaceutical industry has spent millions of dollars developing dozens of drugs aimed at obesity generally and metabolic syndrome in particular. Many of those drugs are now or will soon be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration for approval. At the same time, the industry is lobbying the FDA to recognize the syndrome as a disease and to reconsider its approach to obesity drugs, a shift that would accelerate demand for new drugs.

Much more here. It's an excellent read.

Hat tip: Steve at Impactiviti