children who have metabolic syndrome may perform worse in school than their healthier peers.
metabolic syndrome occurs when a child has three of five health conditions -- like obesity, low levels of good cholesterol, high triglycerides or blood pressure, or pre-diabetes.
researchers at BYU compared nearly fifty children with metabolic syndrome to a group of kids without the disorder.
they found those with metabolic syndrome had significantly lower math and spelling scores, and they had changes in their brain indicative of learning problems.