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Pre-Diabetes Increases Colon Cancer Risk
posted 04/16/04
Researchers say rising Insulin levels are to blame.
As people get heavier and less active, their insulin levels rise. They are on
the way to diabetes, heart disease -- and colon cancer, a new study shows.
It's never been clear exactly why colon cancer is on this list. Now Jing Ma, MD,
PhD, of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, has a
prime suspect: Insulin.
As people get fatter, their bodies begin to resist the effects of insulin. To
compensate, their pancreases make more and more of the sugar-lowering stuff. Ma
and colleagues now show that people whose bodies make the most insulin because
of insulin resistance have the highest risk of colon cancer.
The researchers analyzed blood samples collected from 1982 to 1984 from a study
of some 15,000 male doctors. Compared to 294 matched non-cancer control
subjects, the 176 men who eventually developed colon cancer tended to have
higher levels of an insulin by-product known as a C-peptide -- an indicator of
insulin levels.
In their study, men with the highest C-peptide levels (levels of 0.74 or
greater) had a 2.7-fold increased risk of colon cancer compared with those with
the lowest C-pepitde levels. The findings appear in the April 7 issue of the
Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
"Our data ... support the hypothesis that elevated long-term insulin production
is one underlying mechanism to link dietary and lifestyle risk factors with
colorectal cancer risk," Ma and colleagues write. "[They] also provide a strong
biologic argument that avoiding or reducing the modifiable risk factors -- such
as being overweight, being physically inactive, and following the Western
dietary pattern -- could effectively decrease the risk of colorectal cancer and
the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease."
Source: Diabetes In Control.com: Ma, J. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, April 7, 2004; vol 96: pp 546-553.
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