Data from almost six million people adds to the growing evidence that smoking and type 2 diabetes are linked, according to research by an international team of scientists who pulled together data from 88 studies on smoking risk and type 2 diabetes.
They found that current smokers had about 1.4 times the risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared with non-smokers, the BBC reported.
In commenting on the research, which was published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal, Prof Naveed Sattar, of the University of Glasgow, called on doctors to mention smoking as a risk factor for diabetes.
“They should mention that, as well as being a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and many cancers, smoking should also be regarded as a risk factor for diabetes (albeit with a small effect relative to, for example, lung cancer),” he said.
If the link is proven, efforts to reduce smoking could have a big impact on tackling diabetes worldwide, say researchers.
While the research adds to evidence of a link between smoking and type 2 diabetes, it does not prove that smoking directly causes it.
Dr Richard Elliott, of the charity Diabetes Research UK, said it was important to stress that people with diabetes faced a higher risk of cardiovascular complications, so smoking was even more harmful for people with diabetes than for people without the condition.
“So the strong advice is that if you smoke, whether or not you have diabetes, giving up is the single most important thing you can do for your future health,” he said.
There are many ways to try to quit smoking – and thereby improve health – and the most successful is said to be hypnotherapy.
The National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH), the UK’s leading not-for-profit professional association, represents over 1800 highly qualified therapists across the UK and says research shows that, by quitting smoking with hypnosis, a person is three times more likely to give up than if they used nicotine patches.
Hypnotherapy is the application of hypnotic techniques in such a way as to bring about therapeutic changes. With habits like smoking, the therapist will use these techniques which can help to remove habits with precision and again, a total freedom from side effects.
For something like smoking, the therapist may use what is known as aversion techniques which will put the smoker off having another cigarette.
A study published earlier this year showed that the death risk from smoking may be much higher than previously thought with tobacco killing up to two in every three smokers not one in every two. The study tracked more than 200,000 Australian smokers and non-smokers above the age of 45 over six years.
While Cancer Research UK advises that half of all long-term smokers eventually die from cancer or other smoking-related illnesses, newer studies in the UK and the USA have put the figure at 67%, the BBC reported.
So, if you do not want to be part of that statistic and want to stop smoking, look up a NCH therapist near you by clicking here to use the NCH directory.
Photo by lil artsy: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-smoking-cigarette-2827798/
