[Current views on the metabolic syndrome and the effects of antipsychotic drugs]

Nevertheless clinical studies have confirmed that atypical antipsychotics have a different metabolic effect. The metabolic effect of atypical antipsychotics may manifest itself in weight gain, disturbances in glucose homeostasis and dyslipidaemia. In fact, obesity is the body's way of storing lipids where they belong, in fat tissue, to protect our other organs from lipids toxic effects. Insulin resistance is not the cause of metabolic syndrome, it is a passive byproduct of fat deposition in the liver and muscle. It appears that fat accumulation in the liver is associated with several features of insulin resistance even in normal-weight and moderately overweight subjects.