Originally published January 26 2006
Liver cancer one of the lesser-known risks for diabetics
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Dr. Adrian M. DiBisceglie, of the division of gastroenterology and hepatology at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine, talks about new studies that reveal how diabetes raises patients' risk of liver disease and liver cancer.
Most patients with diabetes know that they have an increased risk of heart disease and stroke, but few realize that their diabetes is also raising their risk of having both liver disease and liver cancer.
A pair of studies reveal that patients with type 2 diabetes have two times the risk of developing liver disease and possibly three times the risk of developing liver cancer as their healthy peers.
Because liver disease can go undetected for years, these findings emphasize the importance for those with diabetes to keep a close eye on their liver health.
Fifteen years after being discharged, the patients with diabetes were almost twice as likely to have chronic liver disease as the patients without diabetes.
While it is unclear whether diabetes directly causes liver disease, or if changes in liver function cause diabetes, Dr. Hashem El-Serag, study author from the Houston Veteran Affairs Medical Center, sees this study as an important warning for patients with diabetes.
Because liver disease can often go unnoticed, as it causes no discernible symptoms, he recommends "regular testing of liver enzymes for patients with diabetes."
In a related study, published in the journal Gut, 2,061 patients with liver cancer were compared to over 6,000 patients without liver cancer from a Medicare database.
When other factors that contribute to liver cancer risk, like alcoholism, were taken into account, the researchers found that patients with diabetes had three times the risk of developing liver cancer as the general population.
Chronic liver diseases, caused by hepatitis B, hepatitis C, heavy alcohol consumption and fatty liver disease have previously been shown to be major risk factors for developing liver cancer, but this is the first time that diabetes alone was seen as a risk factor for liver cancer.
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml