| Metabolic Syndrome Market Highlights |
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All diseases have risk factors, but possibly none borrows all of its defining risk factors from other high-profile diseases more so than metabolic syndrome. Obesity, heart disease and diabetes all contribute top factors to metabolic syndrome, which is still clamoring for space in the minds of health professionals and consumers. While this syndrome hasno specific treatment , there are a number of natural products help address each risk factor involved.
"Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of adverse features including abdominal obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia and insulin resistance that are linked to an increased chance of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes," explained Sharon Ling, Ph.D., vice president of scientific affairs for Carotech (UK).
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), five main markers determine metabolic syndrome, also known as syndrome X. It only takes the presence of three of these five markers to generate a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome:
- Low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) (men < 40 mg/DL, women < 50 mg/dL);
- Elevated triglyceride levels (>150 mg/dL);
- Waist circumference greater than 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women;
- Elevated fasting blood glucose levels; and
- Elevated blood pressure.
The rapid increase in metabolic syndrome in Western societies raised this issue higher on the public health watch list, according to Equinox Group, which consults for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. In a recent report, the group cited national U.S. data suggesting metabolic syndrome afflicts about one-quarter of adults aged 20 to 70, with about half of the elderly suffering the condition. More importantly, Equinox points out no specific therapy for metabolic syndrome exists, but approaches focus on the individual primary components, such as insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, hyper/dyslipidemia and hypertension. The report further states while a few well-established drugs offer mechanisms that could benefit the numerous risk factors, each has its shortcomings, and "few pharmacological options currently exist for treating what is the underlying condition in the majority of metabolic syndrome cases—overweight and obesity."
The market for metabolic syndrome is similarly difficult to define, because it overlaps so many other well-established market segments, including cardiovascular health, diabetes and weight management. One way to gauge the market opportunity is to look at the markets for some of the major risk factors, including cholesterol and blood pressure (cardiovascular), blood sugar (diabetes), weight management and inflammation.
Windrose Partners reported the global health wellness market is about $600 billion, with the U.S. market at about $153 billion; nearly$4 billion of health and wellness foods and beverages targeted cardiovascular health, and the future outlook is for growth. SPINS noted during the 12 months from October 2009 to October 2010, consumers in natural food stores (excluding Whole Foods Market) bought $227 million worth of supplements marketed for benefits to hypertension, atherosclerosis and high cholesterol.
According to Windrose, new food, drink and dietary supplements product launches in the heart health category have tripled in the last five years and currently account for 1.5 percent of all new launches. Further, they noted heart health ingredients have logged an impressive $563 million revenue growth in the wholesale market in 2008 and are expected to eclipse $1 billion by 2012, which would be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20 percent.
