INS and metabolic syndrome: In contrast to previously published findings,10 we did not find strong associations between diarrheal episodes in early childhood and later MetS markers, and of the three pathogen taxa assessed, only cumulative protozoal infections showed substantial effects on the later biomarkers, and mostly only in the multivariate model, such as increases in insulin, PP, and sOB-R, and decreases in leptin, MCP-1, sCD40L, and ApoA-I concentrations.