What is the link between diabetes and smoking? Experts decode – The Indian Express

There are many dos and don’ts that diabetics need to follow for their overall health, but if there is one habit they must absolutely abstain from doing, it is smoking. Smoking can be damaging even for a non-diabetic person, but for someone diagnosed with this health condition, it is a big no-no.
Anjali Mukerjee, a nutritionist, explained in an Instagram post that managing diabetes is “challenging”, and with smoking “thrown into the mix, it only makes it harder”. Her caption read, “This is because nicotine makes your body even more resistant to insulin, increases your blood sugar levels and makes it more difficult to manage and control it. Smoking has a long list of adverse effects on us, but for diabetics that list is even longer.”
She also explained that diabetes is a lifelong condition that causes a person’s blood sugar level to become too high.
In her post, the nutritionist stated that research has shown smoking cigarettes and consuming tobacco doubles the damage in diabetics by hardening their arteries. She also mentioned that diabetics who smoke are at risk of developing heart problems, kidney disease, eye complaints, etc., and their existing complications can worsen, too.
 
 
A post shared by Anjali Mukerjee (@anjalimukerjee)
“Research published in the American Journal of Medicine and Diabetes has connected smoking to high risks for glucose abnormalities such as glucose intolerance and impaired fasting glucose,” Mukerjee wrote, adding that it can also increase the protein in urine and delay wound healing in diabetics. She concluded the post by mentioning that smokers are at a 44 per cent higher risk of developing type-2 diabetes than non-smokers.
Dr Dheeraj Kapoor, head-endocrinology, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital Mumbai agreed. He told indianexpress.com that diabetics who smoke are at a high risk of developing complications of diabetes such as heart diseases, kidney diseases, blindness (diabetic retinopathy), poor blood circulation to legs, which can cause infection, ulcers and also lead to amputation. “Peripheral neuropathy is another issue that can occur.”
According to him, diabetics who are smokers have difficulty managing their sugar levels. “There are frequent fluctuations in the sugar levels, which leads to adjustments in the insulin levels.”
Dr Vivek Patel, consultant endocrinologist at Marengo CIMS Hospital explained the condition, stating that diabetes is a chronic disease that “changes the whole process of how your body uses food as a source of energy”.
“When you consume food, it is converted into glucose (sugar) for the body’s cells to use it for energy. The pancreas secretes insulin hormone that enables glucose to enter into the body’s cells. When a person is diabetic, either the pancreas is unable to make enough insulin, or whatever insulin is produced, is not working efficiently, because of which blood sugar does not enter the cells and stays in your bloodstream,” he stated.
Dr Patel told this outlet that a smoker must understand chemicals in cigarettes are harmful to the cells and it can make them susceptible to type-2 diabetes. “When you smoke nicotine, it harms the cells, causing inflammation and making it even more difficult to handle sugar. Managing diabetes is challenging but it can be controlled; if not managed, it can lead to other serious health complications like heart disease, kidney failure, and nervous issues.”
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