J. of the Department of Anthropology, Vol. 18:2018 Syndrome X: Common determinants of cardiovascular disease and non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus Mithun Das 1 and Kaushik Bose 2# Abstract Syndrome X or Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) is defined as a cluster of several metabolic disorders. Persons with Syndrome X are highly susceptible to cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Evidence suggests that both CVD and T2DM share an underlying cause(s) - ‗common soil‘ hypothesis. Syndrome X consists of glucose intolerance, hyperinsulinemia, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. If we look carefully, all the elements of the syndrome X have been well documented as risk factors for T2DM. At the same time, some, if not all, of these elements are also established CVD risk factors. CVD and T2DM have taken an epidemic shape worldwide, both in countries with established market economy as well as in developing countries no exception to India. In fact, India is now considered as the diabetes capital of the world. People of Indian origin are ethnically predisposed to both CVD and T2DM, despite considerable amount of cultural heterogeneity among them. The present article will put an insight to Syndrome X as common determinants (~ common soil) leading to CVD and T2DM, and the possible ways to withstand against this global public health burden from anthropological perspective. Key words : Metabolic syndrome, Syndrome X, Diabetes, CVD, Common soil 1 Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Sree Chaitanya College, Habra, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India; 2 Professor, Department of Anthropology, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, West Bengal, India # Corresponding Author, email: kaushikbose@cantab.net Introduction Syndrome X or metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a defined cluster of cardio-metabolic abnormalities that increases an individual‘s risk of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus or type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). It is a constellation of interrelated risk factors of metabolic origin (Grundy 2005). The constellation of centrally distributed obesity, decreased high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLc), elevated triglycerides, high blood pressures, and hyperglycemia is known as Syndrome X (Zimmet et al., 2005). Persons with Syndrome X are at essentially twice the risk for CVD as compared to those without the syndrome. It further raises the risk for T2DM by about five-fold (Grundy, 2008). Its