Diabetes-cancer link getting stronger

Diabetics face a constant battle when it comes to maintaining good health.

And recent research shows just how important that practice is, as study after study confirms a correlation between having diabetes and developing different types of cancer.

The diabetes-lung cancer link

The most recent one is a study that found type 2 diabetics have a higher chance of developing lung cancer. At the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center at West Virginia University, scientists tracked 145,765 postmenopausal women, ranging in age from 50 to 79. Women with type 2 diabetes were found to have a 27 percent higher risk of developing lung cancer than women without diabetes.

Are diabetes drugs to blame?

This study comes on the heels of many others that link diabetes to breast, liver and colorectal cancers, to name a few. One study earlier this year found certain insulin drugs were linked to an increased cancer risk, while several studies over the last decade have found a strong connection between diabetes and bladder cancer.

Women in the lung cancer study who treated diabetes with insulin were found to have a 71 percent increased chance of developing lung cancer, but it seems the risk didn't apply to women who had untreated diabetes, nor did the risk have anything to do with how long a woman had diabetes.

So are diabetes drugs to blame?

The answer isn't entirely clear, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued warnings about the popular drug Actos--a prescription medication used by diabetics to help improve blood sugar control--and its link to bladder cancer.

According to FoodConsumer.org, about 26 million Americans have diabetes, which makes cancer prevention awareness and safe treatment options pressing issues for health care providers everywhere.

Sources: Food Consumer, Drug Watch