The Link Between Cancer and Diabetes Has Been Definitively Proven

The idea of a link between diabetes and cancer is not new but had not previously been definitively proven. On 20 July 2018, Diabetologiapublished a large new study concluding definitively that diabetes increases cancer risk.

Key Features of the Study

• Examining data from 47 studies worldwide, including America, the UK, China, Australia and Japan, it shows diabetes increases various cancer risks.
• Although cancers generally occur more often in men, this study found higher cancer risk in women with diabetes than men with diabetes. 
• The findings arose from health data on approximately 20 million people.
• Researchers found diabetes (type 1 and type 2) increases various cancer risks, with a greater increase in women.
• Women with diabetes have %27 higher cancer risk than healthy women; men with diabetes have %19 higher risk than healthy men.

Comparing women with diabetes with men with diabetes, increased risks were found for;

• Kidney cancer %11,
• Oral cancer %13,
• Stomach cancer %14,
• Leukemia %15 higher risk.

Only in men with diabetes was liver cancer risk %12 greater than in women with diabetes.

Why Does Diabetes Increase Cancer Risk?

Although mechanisms remain insufficiently explained, some researchers suggest extremely high blood sugar, increased insulin and metabolic changes accompanying obesity damage a person's DNAand thereby increase cancer risk.

Why Are Women With Diabetes at Higher Cancer Risk Than Men?

According to the authors, women's prediabetic period lasts on average 2 years longer than men's. Longer exposure to diabetic effects therefore increases their risk. However, the roots of sex-specific differences require further investigation.

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Did You Know Most Causes of Diabetes, Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Are Shared?