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September 26, 2005
Smoking Linked to Higher Diabetes Risk
Topics: Health Issues
Smokers may have yet another reason to kick the habit(for some others, look in extended post): According to a new study, it raises their odds of developing diabetes. Reporting in the current issue of Diabetes Care, the study examined the relationship between smoking and diabetes among people taking part in a major national trial called the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (IRAS). They compared the five-year incidence of diabetes of smokers and people who had never smoked.
The study found that twenty-five percent of the smokers who didn't have diabetes at the start of the study developed the disease after five years, compared with 14 percent of people who'd never smoked.
When the researchers adjusted for other diabetes risk factors, they found that, "smokers still exhibited significantly increased incidence of diabetes compared to people who had never smoked."
So, considering that smoking has long been associated with heart disease, as is diabetes, and that diabetes and heart disease share many risk factors, the results of the study shouldn't be much of a surprise to smokers. And there's a couple of other little concerns smokers need to concern themselves with besides diabetes and heart disease. For example:
Multiple types of cancer including: lung cancer, cancers of the mouth and throat, bladder cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, kidney cancer, leukemia, liver cancer, esophageal cancer, pancreatic cancer, and stomach cancer.
Also, dads - be sure to think about your kids:
Babies 'at risk' from smoking dads: Epidemiologist Stephen Leeder, of the University of Sydney, said a number of international studies had suggested the children of fathers who smoked were at increased risk of developing cancer. According to Leeder, "One possible explanation is that the smoking causes genetic damage to sperm cells."
As to a mechanism for smoking-related diabetes: Nicotine effects on renal function in experimental diabetes
Cross posted to New Hope Blog
Posted by Richard at September 26, 2005 9:05 PM
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