Diabetes, or even high blood sugar
levels that can lead to diabetes, appear to raise the risk
of several major cancers, according to a large Korean study.
In previous studies, diabetes
has been consistently linked to cancers of the pancreas, liver
and colon/rectum, the researchers note, but the link with
other types of cancer has been less clear.
Dr. Sun Ha Jee, from Yonsei
University in Seoul, and colleagues conducted a 10-year forward-looking
study involving more than 1 million Koreans ranging in age
from 30 and 95 years who had a medical evaluation between
1992 and 1995.
During follow-up, men and women
with high fasting blood glucose levels were about 25 percent
more likely to die from cancer than those with normal or low
levels, the investigators report in the Journal of the American
Medical Association.
High glucose levels were most
strongly linked to pancreatic cancer for both men and women.
Other malignancies linked to high glucose levels included
cancer of the esophagus, liver, and colon/rectum in men, and
liver and cervix in women.
"While the generalizability
of the findings is uncertain, we have shown that fasting serum
glucose level and diabetes are associated with cancer risk
in a population far leaner than the Western populations in
other studies," the investigators note.
Since most of the Korean population
is relatively lean, taking obesity out of the equation, the
findings suggest that excessive insulin levels triggered in
response to decreased insulin sensitivity may be the underlying
cause of the increased cancer risk.
In a related editorial, Dr.
Kathleen A. Cooney and Dr. Stephen B. Gruber, from the University
of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, comment: "As diabetes
becomes an increasing public health concern in modern societies,
the cancer risks looming on the horizon are now being recognized.
Strategies to address the emerging epidemics of diabetes and
obesity are likely to have a broad impact on public health."
SOURCE: Journal of the American
Medical Association, January 12, 2005.
Reference
Source 89
January 12, 2005
