Does high blood sugar cause cancer?
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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High blood glucose levels are associated with an increased risk of developing colorectal cancer (colon and rectal cancer), according to a study conducted by scientists at Albert Einstein College at Yeshiva University.
The results of the study are published in the British Journal Cancer.
According to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the third leading cause of cancer death in men and women in the United States. Statistics collected by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for 2007 show that 142,672 men and 69,917 women were diagnosed with colorectal cancer. There were 53,219 deaths from colorectal cancer recorded.
Nearly 5,000 postmenopausal women participated in the study. At the beginning of the study, and for the next 12 years, the levels of sugar and insulin in the blood were measured in women.
By the end of the 12-year period, 81 women developed colon cancer. The researchers found that the initial elevated glucose level was associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer.
In women with high blood sugar, the risk of developing colorectal cancer was twice that of women with normal glucose levels.
Obesity, as a rule, is accompanied by an increased level of insulin in the blood. Researchers have previously suspected that obesity affects the development of colorectal cancer due to elevated levels of insulin. However, the latest research has refuted this hypothesis, proving that cancer can be associated with an elevated glucose level.
"The next challenge is to find a mechanism through which a chronically elevated blood glucose level provokes the development of colorectal cancer," said lead author Jeffrey Kabat. "Perhaps the high level of glucose is associated with an increase in growth factors and inflammatory processes that stimulate the growth of intestinal polyps, which leads to the development of cancer."
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