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Smoking & Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease that can cause many health complications. Inability to break glucose down into energy weakens and damages many parts of the body if blood sugar isn't kept under tight control. One of the worst things a diabetic can do is smoke. Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and speeds up progression of diseases diabetics are already at risk of developing, including heart disease, blood vessel disease, stroke, kidney disease, eye disease and nerve damage. According to the Centers for Disease Control, diabetes can shorten your life by 10 years. According to the Canadian Council for Tobacco Control, smoking can shorten your life by 8 years. Hence, diabetics who smoke die young without exception.

  1. Blood Sugar Control

    • Smoking raises glucose levels and causes insulin resistance, which is the body's inability to use insulin effectively. This can raise your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and if you are already a diabetic, smoking can make it difficult to control your blood sugar levels.

    Cardiovascular Disease

    • According to the American Heart Association, diabetics who smoke are three times more likely to die of cardiovascular disease than diabetics who don't smoke. Smoking causes many risk factors of cardiovascular disease, such as high blood pressure, high LDL (bad) cholesterol levels and lower HDL (good) cholesterol levels. Decreased HDL raises your risk of having a heart attack.

    Stroke and Vascular Disease

    • Smoking can cause blood clots to form in a diabetic's body, narrowing and blocking blood vessels. This can cause stroke, blood vessel disease, and leg and foot infections that can be hard to treat. Infections that aren't cured can cause tissue to die. When gangrene sets in, the affected area must be amputated.

    Eye Disease

    • Smoking speeds up eye damage in diabetics caused by weakened blood vessels in the retina. It raises the risk of developing cataracts that cloud vision, and causes glaucoma, which increases the pressure of fluid in the eye and causes vision loss.

    Kidney Damage

    • Diabetes can damage the part of the kidneys that filter toxins from the body. Smoking puts even more toxins in the body that the kidneys can't remove. Toxins can spread throughout your body unless you have dialysis treatments which filter toxins from your blood through a machine.

    Cancer

    • Smokers are at high risk of developing cancer. According to the United Kingdom's cancer statistics, smoking causes 90 percent of lung cancer cases, and is a major cause of mouth, throat, bladder, esophagus, kidney, pancreas, and cervical cancer. Changes in a diabetic's body caused by high blood sugar and smoking can weaken the immune system and make diabetics less likely to be able to fight off the effects of cancer.

    Impotence

    • Diabetes and smoking cause impotence. To get and maintain an erection, healthy blood vessels and good blood flow in the penis are necessary. Diabetics who smoke have reduced blood flow, hardened arteries and damaged blood vessels.

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