Science Provides More Evidence That Diabetes Increases Cancer Risk

"The link between diabetes and the risk of developing cancer is now firmly established," said Dr. Toshiaki Ohkuma, a member of the Institute for Medical Research George Institute for Global Health and author of the report. a global study that brings new evidence. About this relationship already suggested by science

With an international team, Ohkuma performed a statistical badysis that involved the review of 107 studies and data from nearly 20 million people in different countries. This established that diabetes (type 1 and 2) is a risk factor for developing most types of cancer.

The work has just been published in the journal Diabetology .

"Now, doctors and patients must understand the greater risk that diabetics have to try to prevent the onset of the syndrome and control its progression," said Dr. Ohkuma to the Chilean newspaper "El Mercurio", adding that the mechanisms the link between diabetes and cancer is not fully understood.

"However, it is believed that the increase in blood glucose (something that happens to the type 1 and 2 diabetic population) can have carcinogenic effects causing harm to DNA," he said. he explained to "El Mercurio" Sanne Peters, co-author of the research.

Another process involved could be insulin resistance, said Dr. Loreto Moreira, nutritionist with FALP Oncology Institute

"The hyperinsulinemia causes an insulin-filled environment in the body. blood and this could stimulate the proliferation or activation of malignant cells, "he explained.

The study also demonstrated, for the first time, diabetic women are 6% more likely to develop any type of cancer than men with diabetes

. The percentage of risk for them is also higher in some cancers: kidney (11%), stomach (14%) and various forms of leukemia (15%). In addition, it has been found that women with diabetes have a 27% higher risk of cancer than their counterparts in good health, compared to men with diabetes, whose risk is 19% higher, compared to men without the disease.

The differences between the bades are not insignificant and should be corrected, "said Dr. Peters. On the reasons that explain them, he said: "On average, women spend two years more than men in a pre-diabetic state without treatment and often do not receive adequate treatment when they have symptoms.

Dr. Carmen Gloria Aylwin, president of the Chilean Society of Endocrinology and Diabetes (Soched), also believes that another factor behind lower male risk, could be the apparent protective effect of diabetes for development prostate cancer. It is shown that men with diabetes have less prostate cancer than their peers without the disease.

"In women, it does not play a protective role, but it does not allow us to badociate the risk either. , diet and diet