The Rise of Metabolic Health

Harrison Armitage
Aug 25
5 min read

Recent years have seen metabolic health become a hot topic across wellness, medicine, and even economics driven by the growing recognition that metabolic health underpins not just weight but broader well-being and disease prevention.

The urgency of conversation is only enforced with data, such as studies like (Araújo et al., 2019) that show that only about 12% of U.S. adults meet criteria for optimal metabolic health.

Metabolic health describes how efficiently your body processes sugar and fat, converts food into energy, and responds to insulin, which together determine your risk for chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke (Sampson et al., 2020). The conversation has expanded beyond clinical journals into mainstream media, podcasts, and bestselling books, reflecting the trends in a widespread shift from reactive medicine to proactive, lifestyle-centered approaches.

Increasing Literature

Several popular books have brought metabolic health into the spotlight for the general public. To name a couple; Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health by Dr. Casey Means (2024) argues that metabolic well-being is central to vitality, drawing on both research and clinical experience.

Further, Glucose Revolution and The Glucose Goddess Method by Jessie Inchauspé (2022, 2023) translate findings from glycemic variability research into accessible lifestyle strategies (Hall et al., 2018). These books aim to simplify complex science and have helped shift metabolic health into the limelight, making it both understandable and actionable.

What does good/bad Metabolic Health look like?

Whilst tests and technology can be used, everyday indicators that can still offer useful insights. Subjectively, recurring energy crashes, sugar cravings, poor sleep, brain fog, or difficulty recovering from exercise may all hint at underlying metabolic imbalances.

On the surface level, practical self-checks include your; waist circumference (above 94 cm for men or 80 cm for women is linked to higher risk), resting blood pressure, and resting heart rate, can all reflect cardiovascular and metabolic strain.

Tech-Based Tracking

Technology has made metabolic tracking more accessible, I’m sure you've seen as much as myself that the continuous glucose monitors (small stickers on peoples triceps) are now used beyond just diabetes management. Studies show that real-time glucose monitoring can improve dietary choices and reduce postprandial glucose spikes in individuals without diabetes (Zhou et al., 2020).

Beyond that, plenty of wearables; whoop, smart watches, ora rings and the like are becoming increasingly accurate heart rate variability trackers,providing insights into autonomic nervous system balance, a marker correlated with metabolic resilience (Thayer et al., 2010).

Still, critics caution that as is nearly always the case, technology and tracking alone, is insufficient without corresponding behavioral and habitual changes.

Tracking Metabolic Health Without Technology

Despite this, you don’t need advanced technology to monitor your metabolic health. Clinical and lifestyle indicators remain highly valuable:

Five core markers of metabolic health include blood pressure, fasting glucose, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, and waist circumference (Alberti et al., 2009).
Simple measures like waist-to-hip ratio and resting blood pressure are validated predictors of metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular outcomes (Song et al., 2019).
Physical activity is a powerful non-tech intervention: randomized controlled trials demonstrate that moderate-intensity exercise significantly improves insulin sensitivity and lipid profiles in as little as 12 weeks (Ross et al., 2015).
Nutritional strategies such as increasing dietary fiber and protein intake, or walking after meals, are also supported by randomized trials as ways to improve glycemic responses (Reynolds et al., 2020).

Why Metabolic Health Matters

Prioritizing metabolic health has far-reaching benefits:

Reduced disease risk: Strong evidence links improved metabolic markers with lower incidence of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers (Reaven, 2011).
Better daily functioning: Improved insulin sensitivity is associated with enhanced energy levels, cognitive performance, and mood (Heni et al., 2015).
Healthy aging: Maintaining metabolic health reduces risk of frailty, dementia, and mortality in older adults (Kalyani et al., 2017).

Summary: Paying Attention to Metabolic Health Matters

Metabolic health is more than a clinical marker, it is a dynamic, measurable, and impactful indicator of whole-body resilience. Paying attention to it offers:

Protection against chronic disease
More stable daily energy and cognitive clarity
Improved longevity and aging outcomes

Whether tracked using continuous glucose monitors, simple blood pressure cuffs, or lifestyle cues, metabolic health is both accessible and meaningful. Aligning diet, activity, and recovery to support it can create benefits that ripple across every aspect of life.

References

Alberti, K. G., Eckel, R. H., Grundy, S. M., Zimmet, P. Z., Cleeman, J. I., Donato, K. A., ... & Smith, S. C. (2009). Harmonizing the metabolic syndrome: A joint interim statement. Circulation, 120(16), 1640–1645. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.192644
Araújo, J., Cai, J., Stevens, J., & Heiss, G. (2019). Prevalence of ideal cardiovascular health by metabolic health status in U.S. adults. Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, 12(6), e005928. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.119.005928
Hall, H., Perelman, D., Breschi, A., Limcaoco, P., Kellogg, R., McLaughlin, T., & Snyder, M. (2018). Glucotypes reveal new patterns of glucose dysregulation. PLoS Biology, 16(7), e2005143. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2005143
Heni, M., Kullmann, S., Preissl, H., Fritsche, A., & Häring, H. U. (2015). Impaired insulin action in the human brain: Causes and metabolic consequences. Nature Reviews Endocrinology, 11(12), 701–711. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2015.173
Kalyani, R. R., Corriere, M., & Ferrucci, L. (2017). Age-related and disease-related muscle loss: The effect of diabetes, obesity, and other diseases. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, 2(10), 819–829. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(14)70034-8
Reaven, G. (2011). The metabolic syndrome: Time to get off the merry-go-round? Journal of Internal Medicine, 269(2), 127–136. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2796.2010.02325.x
Reynolds, A. N., Akerman, A. P., & Mann, J. (2020). Dietary fibre and whole grains in diabetes management: Systematic review and meta-analyses. PLOS Medicine, 17(3), e1003053. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003053
Ross, R., Hudson, R., Stotz, P. J., & Lam, M. (2015). Effects of exercise amount and intensity on abdominal obesity and glucose tolerance in obese adults. Annals of Internal Medicine, 162(5), 325–334. https://doi.org/10.7326/M14-1189
Sampson, U. K. A., Fazio, S., & Linton, M. F. (2020). Residual cardiovascular risk despite optimal LDL cholesterol reduction with statins: The evidence, etiology, and therapeutic challenges. Current Atherosclerosis Reports, 14(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11883-012-0226-9
Song, X., Jousilahti, P., Stehouwer, C. D., Söderberg, S., Onat, A., Laatikainen, T., ... & Hu, G. (2019). Comparison of various surrogate obesity indicators as predictors of cardiovascular mortality in four European populations. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 73(6), 868–874. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-018-0274-5
Thayer, J. F., Yamamoto, S. S., & Brosschot, J. F. (2010). The relationship of autonomic imbalance, heart rate variability, and cardiovascular disease risk factors. International Journal of Cardiology, 141(2), 122–131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcard.2009.09.543
Zhou, W., Sailani, M. R., Contrepois, K., Zhou, Y., Ahadi, S., Leopold, S. R., ... & Snyder, M. (2020). Longitudinal multi-omics of host–microbe dynamics in prediabetes. Nature, 569(7758), 663–671. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1236-x