by Marie Kauna – EMTV Online, Port Moresby
While half of all long-term smokers die from cancer and other smoking related disease, recent evidence suggests smoking is also linked with type 2 diabetes.
An international team, when gathering data from 88 different studies on smoking risks and type 2 diabetes, has found that current smokers “had about 1.4 times the risk of developing type 2 diabetes than the non-smokers.”
Dr Richard Elliot of the charity Diabetes Research UK said it is “important to stress that people with diabetes were at increased risk of cardiovascular complications”.
While evidence suggest smoking is linked to type 2 diabetes, Professor Naveed Satar of the University of Glasgow has called on doctors to make note of smoking being an adverse risk factor for diabetes.
“The strong advice is that if you smoke, whether or not you have diabetes, giving up is the single most important thing you can do for your future health,” Dr Elliot said.
