What are some of the main medical treatments for metabolic syndrome?

The primary goal of clinical management is to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.^[1] Lifestyle interventions (i.e., changes in dietary and physical activity habits and smoking cessation) are the initial strategy to treat MetS, followed by pharmacological therapy — if necessary — to improve individual risk factors. There are no guidelines from medical organizations for the pharmacological treatment of MetS; pharmacological treatment depends on the individual’s unique circumstances and may include a statin to improve blood lipids, a glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) or sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor to further reduce cardiovascular disease risk, metformin to increase insulin sensitivity, and/or a renin-angiotensin system (RAS) blocker to reduce blood pressure, among other drugs.^[2][3][4] In people with severe obesity, bariatric surgery is a highly effective option.