The components of metabolic syndrome in women: ‘Is the whole really greater than the sum of its parts?’

Psychologist Kurt Koffka termed the phrase ‘the whole is other than the sum of its parts’. Often incorrectly translated as ‘the whole is greater than the sum of the parts’, such a phrase can also describe the debate on the properties of metabolic syndrome (MetS). There continues to be discussion as to whether this syndrome is a distinct pathophysiologic gestalt, or something that reflects the association of its various clinical, physiological, and biochemical cardiovascular risk factors [1–3].