Type 2 diabetes has become
an epidemic for all ages in America. Obesity has been found to be a major cause
in individuals developing Type 2 diabetes. After this past week’s discussion, I
was thinking about other factors then obesity and inactive lifestyle that could
cause Type 2 diabetes. I then started to think about the people I know in my
life with Type 2 diabetes: my aunt and my uncle. But what do these two people
have in common? They were both smokers for the majority of their lives.
Smoking is one of the
greatest ways a person can increase their chances in developing Type 2
diabetes. My aunt had been smoking cigarettes, up to two packs a day, since she
was 16 years old. On top of this, she had not been watching her diet and
started to become overweight. In light of her son and daughter changing their
health habits, my aunt decided to do so herself. Although, it was not until she
had lost almost 40 pounds and quit smoking for a couple months that she found
out she had developed Type 2 diabetes. How had her body been surviving with
this disease? Was it the fact that she lost weight that made the disease come
out of the shadows? Or could it be that her body did not know how to properly
handle insulin without the help of cigarettes?
Smoking has been found to
have a key role in insulin resistance. In “heavy smokers”, like my aunt, the
overall body fat has been found to be higher, than those who are considered
“light smokers.” (3) The nicotine in cigarettes acts as a neurotransmitter
stimulating the energizing pathway of the body, but this is not all it does. The
effects of nicotine on heavy smokers who have quit can cause insulin
resistance. Their nicotine acts as a trigger for lipolysis in the body, which can
lead to an overall increase in free fatty acids. The body’s response to an
increase in free fatty acids is to have a decrease in glucose uptake.
Works Cited:
1. "Your Weight and Diabetes." Obesity.org.
CDC, July 2010. Web. 17 Sept. 2014.
2. "Smoking and Diabetes." Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, 11 Aug. 2014. Web. 17 Sept. 2014.
3. Chiolerol, Arnaud, David Faeh, Fred Paccaud, and Jacques Cornuz.
"The American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition." Consequences of Smoking for Body Weight, Body Fat Distribution, and Insulin Resistance. N.p., 25 Sept. 2007. Web. 17 Sept. 2014.
4. Bajaj, Mandeep.
"ACKNOWLEDGMENTS." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National
Library of Medicine, 15 Nov. 2012. Web. 17 Sept. 2014
That is fascinating! I definitely thought the problem would be more noted while a person was smoking, but it definitely makes sense. Good for your aunt! Is it just the nicotine that acts as a neurotransmitter or does some of the other chemicals act in similar ways to increase the risk of developing type II diabetes?
ReplyDeleteMost of the pathways that have been researched in looking at the effects of smoking on the body focus on the effects of nicotine. Although, with the cigarettes that are sold today containing many other toxic products, it would seem that they would also contribute to the development of Type II diabetes. In researching more about smoking and diabetes, it seems that it is a combination of the harmful toxins, the nicotine, and the long-term use of cigarettes that are the major contributors to the development of Type II diabetes.
DeleteThis post was so interesting! My uncle also has Type 2 Diabetes, and he was a fairly heavy cigar smoker before he was diagnosed. This could explain some about his diagnosis as well, as he was always pretty overweight and never really thought to change his lifestyle and eating habits, and didn't show symptoms that would alert him or his doctors. Unfortunately, although he hasn't touched nicotine in years, he remains less concerned with his diet than his family would like him to be, and his diabetes continues to be a struggle for him because of that.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing!