Daily HealthBeat Tip

Smokers and diabetes

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I�m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Another thing smoking does that�s bad for you � raise your risk of getting diabetes. Researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health found this in a database of people who they track to see how diabetes develops.

Capri Foy of Wake Forest University School of Medicine reported on the results in the journal Diabetes Care.

"Smokers demonstrated an increased risk of diabetes compared to those who had never smoked. This relationship between smoking and the risk of diabetes persisted even when we accounted for other risk factors." (11 seconds)

The study found that, while 14 percent of nonsmokers developed diabetes over five years, 25 percent of smokers did. And, among smokers, the risk of diabetes went up among those who smoked more.

Foy says smoking might affect a number of things that could lead to diabetes, including body fat and sugar levels.

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: October 25, 2005

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