Type 2 Diabetes - Smoking And The Metabolic Syndrome

The metabolic syndrome consists of the impaired ability of the body to process dietary sugar which gives high blood sugar levels, high blood cholesterol, and high blood pressure. These three conditions are almost always tied together. It really makes sense they are tied together because high levels of sugar damage the lining of your arteries and cholesterol rushes to patch them up. And excess levels of blood sugar are stored as cholesterol and triglycerides and they tend to clog your arteries. Your arteries then become stiff and your blood pressure rises.

So the metabolic syndrome is the name for a group of risk factors that raise the possibility of a person developing heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and stroke. Unfortunately, many people diagnosed with the metabolic syndrome do go on to develop full-blown Type 2 diabetes.

Researchers at the Diabetes Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China studied smokers to determine whether smoking could be a risk factor for the development of the metabolic syndrome. Their work was published in October 2011 in the journal Biomedical Environmental Science.

Six hundred and ninety-three men without the metabolic syndrome at the start of the study were followed for 2.9 to 5.5 years. At the end of that time smokers were:

more than twice as likely to have developed the metabolic syndrome as non-smokers.significantly more likely to have high blood fats and low HDL (healthy cholesterol).

Former smokers decreased their risk for developing the metabolic syndrome after 13 years.

Tobacco is unhealthful for anyone, and diabetics, prediabetics, and those with a family history of Type 2 diabetes now have one more reason not to take up smoking, or to quit.

It would help anyone considering beginning to smoke to consider the fact it is more difficult to stop an addiction than to start one. Nicotine is a highly addictive substance, going to the brain and stimulating pleasurable sensations. The pleasurable sensations soon cease and a craving for more nicotine results. Most smokers are aware smoking has severe health consequences, desire to quit, and then have difficulty doing so.

For those already addicted, help is available. At the website smokefree.gov... smokers can find a step-by-step guide for quitting, beginning with listing the reasons for wanting to quit. Suggested reasons include:

saving money,having more free time without the bother of having to shop for cigarettes,not needing to take cigarette breaks, etc.,being better able to breathe and not coughing as much,setting a good example for one's children, andavoiding the thousands of toxic chemicals in cigarettes.

Keeping busy, avoiding activities associated with smoking, and using a support system are also suggestions given at the site.

Medications such as nicotine patches and gum and wellbutrin are available by prescription. Patches and gum deliver nicotine without cigarettes, so smokers can stop the habit while controlling withdrawal and managing to cut down on nicotine delivery gradually. Wellbutrin is an antidepressant that has shown some success as an anti-smoking aid.

If you have diabetes and kidney disease, smoking puts you on a faster track for complications such as heart attack and stroke.

To discover answers to questions you may be asking yourself about Type 2 Diabetes, click on this link... Natural Diabetes Treatments