The Sweet Stalker Part 1

[Guest guest]

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> The Sweet Stalker

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> A glitch in the way cells absorb blood sugar is silently raising the risk

> of cancer, heart attacks, infertility--and more--for 47 million Americans

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> by Sarí Harrar

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> " Just 2 months! " recalls Jeannine with a laugh as she nurses her

> 4-month-old daughter, Ava. " My husband and I spent a year trying to

> conceive...I joined a study and was pregnant in 2 months. I feel so

> blessed. "

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> , 26, of burg, PA, is the first success story to emerge from a

> nationwide research study of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), one of the

> fastest-growing infertility problems in the United States. The goal:

> babies--and new insights into links between PCOS and Insulin Resistance

> Syndrome (IRS), a silent killer that researchers now realize is behind an

> astonishing array of health problems: infertility; heart attack; stroke;

> cancers of the breast, uterus, prostate, and colon; high blood pressure;

> type 2 diabetes; and perhaps even Alzheimer's disease.

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> The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that at least 47

> million of us--one in four Americans--have this body chemistry glitch

> that doubles or even triples levels of the powerful hormone insulin in

> someone's bloodstream. But the number could be as high as 140 million

> adults and another 10 million kids--virtually every overweight grown-up

> and child--because IRS is tied directly to excess body fat and

> inactivity. (Stress and lack of sleep make it worse.) " IRS underlies some

> of the deadliest, most costly diseases we face, " says Einhorn, MD,

> medical director of the Scripps Whittier Institute for Diabetes in

> LaJolla, CA. " Genetics plays a role, but mostly it is the result of too

> many pounds and not enough exercise. "

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> At one time, IRS developed in old age and led to health crises for people

> in their 70s and 80s. Today, it's the toxic result of our grab-a-snack,

> chained-to-the-computer-and-the-TV lifestyles. " IRS is now starting at

> age 15 or 20 or sometimes even earlier, " says IRS researcher C.

> Kahn, MD, president of the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. " We're

> setting ourselves up for some very dramatic, widespread health impacts

> for people in the prime of life. "

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> Back in the Ice Age, insulin resistance helped some lucky prehistoric

> humans survive famine. A genetic trick, it encouraged the storage of

> extra body fat during times of plenty. Some experts even think it kept

> extra blood sugar in circulation and available for use by the brain, by a

> developing fetus, or to enrich breast milk. But in the sit-and-snack 21st

> century, most insulin resistance is not triggered by clever genes; it's

> the result of overweight and inactivity. The result: a killer, not a

> survival tool.

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> Normally, your body only needs tiny amounts of insulin to alert muscle

> and liver cells that it's time to absorb glucose (blood sugar) after a

> meal. Obeying insulin's signal, the cells allow blood sugar to enter.

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