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Smoking and Diabetes

Smoking is a habit that hurts everyone, smokers and non-smokers alike. Smokers are insulin resistant, show signs of insulin resistance syndrome, and are at an increased risk – 50% in men and women – for developing type 2 diabetes.

Those who smoke, particularly those with diabetes, open themselves up to many bad health effects. Those who smoke second-hand, even if they don’t mean to, are at risk of developing cancer, breathing problems, and heart disease. These people are more susceptible to colds and flu, and may even die younger than those who don’t breathe second-hand smoke.

Smoking can also aggravate many problems that people with diabetes already face, such as heart and blood vessel disease. Smoking can:

• cut the amount of oxygen reaching tissues, which can lead to a heart attack, stroke, miscarriage, or stillbirth.
  
  
• increase your cholesterol and other fat levels and the levels, raising your risk of a heart attack.
  
  
• damage and constrict the blood vessels, which worsen foot ulcers and lead to blood vessel disease and leg and foot infections.
  
  
• increase your risk for limited joint mobility.
  
  
• cause cancer of the mouth, throat, lung, and bladder.
  
  
• increase your blood pressure.
  
  
• raise your blood sugar level, making it harder to control your diabetes.
  
  
• cause impotence.
  

People with diabetes who smoke are three times as likely to die of cardiovascular disease than other people with diabetes. Those with type 1 and type 2 diabetes who smoke are at risk for micro- and macrovascular complications, as well as diabetic nephropathy, retinopathy, and neuropathy.

Your body gets more than nicotine when you smoke. There are more than 4,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke. Some of them are also in wood varnish, the insect poison DDT, arsenic, nail polish remover, and rat poison.

The ashes, tar, gases, and other poisons in cigarettes harm your body over time. They damage your heart and lungs. They also make it harder for you to taste and smell things, and fight infections.

Whether you’ve been smoking for a lifetime or have just started, quitting smoking is the best thing you can do to decrease your risk of diabetic complications. It is never too late to get on the road to good health.

Sources:
Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases. 2003 Mar-Apr;45(5):405-13, accessed 9/14/07

American Diabetes Association. “Smoking,” accessed 9/14/07

National Cancer Institute. “Clearing the Air: Quit Smoking Today.” PDF brochure downloaded from www.smokefree.gov, accessed 9/14/07.