Metabolic Health: Tackling wellbeing from the inside out
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Abstract
Poor metabolic health is the primary cause of non-communicable diseases (NCD), which today make up over 74% of deaths globally. It affects roughly half of all adults worldwide and considerably higher proportions of the adult population in countries such as the U.S., Pacific Islands, Middle East, China and India.
According to the NCD Alliance, the top 5 leading NCDs have been estimated to cost USD 47 trillion between 2010 and 2030, averaging more than USD 2 trillion per year. Of the nine leading causes of deaths in High Income countries, all but one are considered to be NCDs; they are, however, all are related to metabolic disease to varying degrees.
While many view non-communicable diseases (NCDs) as having little in common with one another, increasing evidence suggests they share a common origin in metabolic disruption. Similarly, Metabolic Syndrome, formerly known as “insulin resistance syndrome”, and its components (hypertension, obesity, diabetes, dyslipidaemia) are often considered individually by clinical medicine but all share a common root cause — a condition called insulin resistance.
By helping to shift the health paradigm to include insulin resistance, the insurance industry has an opportunity to, not only improve the health of policyholders, but also significantly improve future claims for all lines of life and health business. Prospects for new product designs that have metabolic health and insulin resistance as a central focus can help keep new business portfolios healthy and could extend cover to those currently uninsurable due to metabolic disease.
But what is “metabolic health”? What leads to metabolic disruption? How large is the problem generally and in insured lives? What diseases are linked to poor metabolic health? What can we do about it, and what does it mean for Life and Health insurance?
This paper is the first in a series that looks to introduce the topic of metabolic health, the links to numerous diseases and how important it is not just for global and population health, but also for Life and Health insurers.
