Monday Nov 23, 2015 (foodconsumer.org) -- Previous epidemiologic studies have discovered increased risk of certain cancers in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who were hospitalized to treat the disease.  A new study found the risk for many types of cancer increased patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who were treated in other care settings.

For the study, researchers at Lund University in Sweden, German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany and Stanford University in California USA analyzed data from a nationwide Swedish database and found increased risk at 24 cancer sites in type 2 diabetics.

The standard incidence ratios (SIRS) for five cancers - colon cancer, liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, endometrial cancer and kidney cancers were found higher in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus during the whole follow-up.  The risks for pancreatic cancer and liver cancer in diabetes mellitus patients were particularly high.

The researchers found similar risk patterns in type 2 diabetes mellitus in different care settings. They also found insulin use was linked to higher cancer risk.

It is well known that insulin increases the bioactivity of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) by increasing the production of IGF-1 and decreasing IGF-1 binding proteins.   IGF-1 is well known to promote cancer growth.  This explains why diabetes mellitus patients are at a higher cancer risk.

Liu, X., Hemminki, K., Försti, A., Sundquist, K., Sundquist, J. and Ji, J. (2015), Cancer risk in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and their relatives. Int. J. Cancer, 137: 903–910. doi: 10.1002/ijc.29440