The diabetes and cancer link

Type 2 diabetes is a reality for 31 million U.S. citizens. There also are 84 million folks with prediabetes, and one-third of them will develop full-blown Type 2. If you’re in one of those groups, listen up! The way to check diabetes off your worry list is to beat it! Here’s a little fuel:

A global review by the George Institute for Global Health involving almost 20 million people found that having diabetes significantly raises the risk of developing cancer, and for women the increased risk is elevated.

Women with diabetes are 27 percent more likely to develop any form of cancer than women without diabetes; for men with diabetes the risk is 19 percent higher. Compared to men with diabetes, women’s risk of kidney cancer is 11 percent higher, oral cancer is 13 percent higher, stomach cancer 14 percent higher and leukemia 15 percent higher.

The researchers theorize it may be that women remain prediabetic with impaired glucose tolerance two years longer on average than men. Also, they’re often undertreated when first symptomatic, are less likely to receive intensive care and are not taking the same levels of medications as men.

What is the connection between diabetes and cancer? Apparently, elevated blood glucose contributes to DNA damage and those genetic mutations fuel cancer. Yikes!

If you have been told you have prediabetes or you have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, you can reverse and control your condition!

For prediabetes, lifestyle upgrades can reduce your risk of developing full-blown diabetes by 58 percent; medications are successful only about 31 percent of the time! And for those with full-blown Type 2 diabetes, at Dr. Mike’s Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute, 60 percent of folks who follow an intensive treatment program can achieve and maintain an A1C of 5 to 5.8 percent time and a sign of being nondiabetic).

Mehmet Oz, M.D. is host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and Mike Roizen, M.D. is Chief Wellness Officer and Chair of Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic. To live your healthiest, tune into “The Dr. Oz Show” or visit www.sharecare.com.