Insulin resistance, abdominal obesity, hypertension, high triglycerides, low HDL (good) cholesterol levels: a cluster of traits typically referred to as Metabolic Syndrome. All are known to be indicators of diabetes and heart disease in adults. What has recently been discovered, however, is that these same traits are also on the rise in adolescents.

Based on a study conducted at Penn State's Center for Childhood Obesity Research, it has become clear that Metabolic Syndrome is now on the rise in people of younger age. In this study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, Metabolic Syndrome risk was assessed in 154 white, non-Hispanic 13-year-old girls and their parents. The results suggested that those individuals who demonstrated traits typically associated with Metabolic Syndrome also had a greater increase in fat mass between the ages of 5 and 13 when compared against the individuals who did not exhibit these traits

A possible cause for the disparity was also considered -- based on further research into these individuals' eating behaviors. It turned out that the group at higher risk had consumed a great deal more sugary beverages between the ages of 5 to 13 than did the group that did not exhibit signs of risk.