The connection between diabetes and colon cancer has now been scientifically proven. Researchers from Cancer Research UH and the Medical Research Council found that Tpy II diabetics are up to 3 times more likely to develop colon cancer. In their test, they examined blood samples from 10,000 men and women between the ages of 45 and 79. After 6 years, their state of health was checked again.
The conclusion of the study: Diabetics and people with abnormal glucose metabolism values have a significantly higher risk of developing colon cancer than people with normal blood sugar values. Men are more affected by this tendency than women. The lead scientist Kay-Tee Khaw suspects that the same predisposing factors act in both diabetes and colon cancer. According to Kay-Tee Khaw, hormonal changes associated with diabetes have a positive effect on tumor growth.
A Swedish research group at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm came to a similar conclusion. In a long-term study, the scientists examined 45,550 men over 6 years. Their result: the likelihood of developing colon or rectal cancer is almost 50 percent higher in men with diabetes than in non-diabetics of the same age.
As a consequence, the scientists are calling for diabetics to be examined for intestinal carcinoma immediately after diagnosis – before the blood sugar level is adjusted.
Since the organs react less and less to insulin during the development of type II diabetes, the blood of these still symptom-free people has, however, had an increased concentration of insulin for years (prediabetes). Since the latest findings, insulin has been suspected of being a powerful growth factor for cancer cell growth. It is already known that insulin activates a motor for cell division – the insulin-like growth factor (IGF). The insulin not only promotes its effect, but also occupies binding proteins that otherwise tend to block the IGF in a regulating manner. This interaction favors the cancer-promoting effect.
