[Metabolic syndrome - a new look at a known problem]

Civilization changes over the past decades have been associated with an increase in the incidence of various metabolic disorders, especially in the carbohydrate-lipid metabolism, which are not always associated with obesity. Metabolic syndrome, despite changing criteria of recognition, is a clinically established risk factor for civilization diseases development. On the other side, the incidence of complex metabolic disorders in non-obese people is increasing, which is referred to in the literature as metabolic obesity with normal body mass. Both, excess visceral fatty tissue and insulin resistance are common components in the diagnosis of these syndromes and their occurrence is associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Some researchers also point out the possibility of occurrence of so-called metabolically healthy obesity. Identify people with such a constellation of disorders is still difficult in clinical practice because of different and changing diagnostic criteria. Data from the literature about epidemiology of these disorders are inconclusive and do not allow for a reliable assessment of such disorders prevalence in population. The increasing rate of the metabolic syndrome and metabolic obesity with normal body weight occurrence in the general population pays attention to the importance of this problem, especially in primary health care. Preventive programs are primarily aimed at older people with high risk of cardiovascular diseases development and focused on detecting metabolic syndrome traits. Nevertheless, very often, young, potentially healthy individuals, are not subject to screening programs, even though incidence of metabolic obesity with normal body weight in this population is very high nowadays.