Diabetes from cigarettes

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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Fat and diabetic - this is not always the case. Some people develop type 2 diabetes even though they are slim. One reason for this could be cigarettes. This even applies to passive smokers.

“Overweight and unsportsmanlike” - not all type 2 diabetics live up to this idea. Obesity is the main risk factor for this form of diabetes along with genetic predisposition - but it is not the only one. Another risk factor that hardly anyone has on their radar so far: cigarettes.

"Smokers are usually leaner than non-smokers - but their risk is increased by almost 40 percent compared to non-smokers," said Frank Hu from the Harvard School of Public Health in an interview with, who was involved in an overview study on the subject.

It has been proven for many years that there is a connection between smoking and cancer as well as smoking and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Corresponding proof of type 2 diabetes was more difficult. Researchers have now evaluated 88 studies on this topic as part of an overview study. This included data from a total of six million people.

Up to 57 percent higher risk

The results were impressive: Compared to people who had never smoked, the risk of type 2 diabetes for smokers was on average 37 percent higher. "Smokers tend to put more fat in the abdomen and around the organs," says Hu. And it is precisely these fat deposits that increase the risk of diabetes: They produce hormones and other messenger substances that promote diabetes. “And then there are the poisonous substances in the cigarettes. They can damage the beta cells, ”says Hu - the tiny insulin factories in the pancreas. In addition, smoking generally stimulates chronic inflammatory reactions in the body - another mechanism by which tobacco consumption could provoke diabetes in the long term.

However, the number of cigarettes smoked also played a decisive role in the risk: light smokers were 21 percent more likely to develop diabetes than non-smokers, medium smokers 34 percent and for heavy smokers the risk rose by 57 percent.

Quitting smoking with side effects

Quitting smoking can significantly reduce the risk of diabetes again: After ten years of abstinence from tobacco, it was only eleven percent higher than among those participants who had never smoked. However, it initially climbed to 57 percent in the first five years after the last cigarette. "Most smokers put on four to five kilograms of body weight in the first year after quitting smoking," says Hu, explaining the apparently paradoxical phenomenon. And obesity, along with a corresponding predisposition, is still the most serious risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Only in the following years did the risk of getting diabetes decrease for ex-smokers - but then significantly.

Also at risk: passive smokers

The harmful effects of tobacco smoke actually unfold was also demonstrated by its effects on non-smokers: Those who regularly had to inhale the smoke of others fell ill more often, namely with a 22 percent higher probability of type 2 diabetes.

Overall, the researchers calculated that almost twelve percent of type 2 diabetes cases in men worldwide are caused by cigarettes. Since women smoke less than men, the blue haze is probably responsible for only 2.4 percent of their diabetes.

What is recommended to everyone is especially true for people with a family history of type 2 diabetes: watch your weight. Keep moving. And: leave the butts in the box.

Source: Relation of active, passive, and quitting smoking with incident diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis, "An Pan, Yeli Wang, Mohammad Talaei, Frank B. Hu, Tangchun Wu, The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, online September 18 , 2015, doi: 10.1016 / S2213-858700316-2

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