Metabolic syndrome is a term used to describe a set of heart disease risk factors that have been found to cluster in some people, increasing the risk of heart attack by 4 to 20 times over that of people without these factors. These risk factors include elevated insulin levels (insulin resistance), central obesity (around the middle), high levels of both LDL (?bad?) cholesterol and triglycerides, elevated blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. The best prevention and treatment for metabolic syndrome are weight loss, exercise and diet modification in conjunction with the standard treatment aimed at modifying coronary risk factors.