Metabolic syndrome is a very dangerous situation. It is a cluster of conditions such as high blood pressure and high blood levels of glucose. Because of that disorder heap, metabolic syndrome raises the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

The likelihood that adolescents will develop metabolic syndrome rises in cases of exposure to tobacco smoke, either through active or passive smoke. This association is even stronger among teens who are overweight or at risk of being overweight.

According to statistics, the metabolic syndrome primarily strikes those teens who are overweight or at-risk for overweight, a group that has tripled during the last two decades. This makes a growing segment of the youth population uniquely vulnerable to the development of this syndrome and to subsequent premature cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes.

This is consensual with the general opinion that tobacco and obesity are the two leading causes of preventable death in the United States. More then that, the metabolic syndrome often develops in childhood and is associated with insulin resistance, a metabolic disorder in which the body can't use insulin efficiently.

Recent studies targeting metabolic syndrome draw attention to smoke among young people. Looking at teens who were overweight or at risk for being overweight, the effect of smoke was even more marked, with 6 percent of those not exposed to smoke developing syndrome, 20 percent of those exposed to secondhand smoke getting it and 24 percent of smokers suffering from the disorder.

According to the American Heart Association, about 16 percent of all children and teens in the United States are overweight. This is a group in which it is profoundly important to reduce secondhand smoke exposure and active smoking, and, by consequence, risk of diabetes and heart disease, as metabolic syndrome direct effects.