Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes, constituting a major public health problem worldwide. The increasing prevalence of MetS has reached epidemic proportions, with 20-30% of the world’s adult population. Because the prevalence of MetS increases dramatically in an aging population, managing MetS and identifying its contributing factors are important to lessening its burden in global health.
Lifestyle is a key factor in the development and management of MetS; in particular, physical activity (PA) and healthy diet are suggested to be their critical components. Although many studies have reported an association between PA and MetS, there is limited information on the optimal level of PA required to prevent MetS and its associated cardiovascular abnormalities. In Japan, the current guidelines gives recommendations for PA and exercise for health promotion. According to current guidelines, every adult should accumulate 23 METs-hr/week of PA to prevent the onset of lifestyle-related diseases including the MetS. Thus, I introduce study and initiatives concerning PA and MetS in Japan, and would like to discuss for health promotion by prevention of MetS.
In cross-sectional study, our results indicate that the PA levels recommended current guidelines was associated with MetS in men. We also found that moderate PA of >26.5 METs-hr/week may decrease the risk of MetS in middle-aged Japanese individuals. Moreover, we confirmed the validity of the cutoff value for PA and the efficacy of PA programs that focus on the factors described here to prevent and treat MetS in the one year intervention study. Our findings suggest that >26.5 METs-hr/week as a part of lifestyle management improves MetS, and that there is a dose–response relationship between PA and improvement of metabolic-risk factors in overweight with MetS.