Metabolic Syndrome - Japan is worried

On May 29th I put the question about Metabolic Syndrome - "Should I worry ?"
The Japanese are certainly worried and have reacted vigorously to prevent a tidal wave of diabetes taking away an aging population in droves.


On April 1st a new law came into effect in Japan which means that everyone between 40 and 65 has to have their waistline measured by a nurse as part of an annual checkup. US News and World Report had a good story emphasizing that while overall the Japanese are very slim compared to Americans, they have got into bad habits - like being willing to wait in line 2 hours to get lips around Krispy Cream doughnuts !


The New York Times had a long article with lots of detail and some good pictures.

As you might imagine Japan is going about addressing and solving Metabolic Syndrome very methodically. Japanese companies are highly involved. There is a stick and a carrot. If a company's workers are over-size in 5 years time then the companies contribution to health care costs go up.

Of course there are lots of gadgets available to help fight the flab.