Diabetes is already tagged as one of the silent killers because it is linked to various complications such as kidney failure. Now, evidences that diabetes can also be linked to cancer are emerging.

A recent study reported that women with diabetes have generally increased their risk of developing cancer by 8 per cent. Men, on the other hand have 9 per cent higher risk of having cancer (excluding prostate cancer).

Moreover, the study found out that the possibility of dying from cancer will increase significantly if you have diabetes.

On a lighter note, the same study concluded that diabetes can be related to the decreased incidence of prostate cancer among men. Reasons behind this are still unclear but the researcher’s data indicated that if you include cancer of the prostate on the mix, men’s chances of getting cancer from diabetes is reduced by 4 per cent.

Lead author Gabriel Lai will present the study before the American Association for Cancer Research on Sunday in Orlando, Florida. Research findings are still thought of as preliminary studies until they are published in a journal.

The study participant’s diabetes was self-reported. Also, the researchers did not indicate whether it is Type 1 Diabetes or Type 2. Furthermore, the study did not indicate information about diabetes management and the kind of medication the participants took. The study head, Gabriel Lai, however said that most of the participants have Type 2 Diabetes as it is more common than the other type.

As of the moment, it is still unclear whether it is the illness per se that is causing the increase risk of cancer, or the medication connected herewith.

Almost 26 million Americans of all ages now have diabetes and 79 million people have what doctors call “prediabetes.” This is according to 2011 estimates released by the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday.

Prediabetes affects 35 percent of the adult population. According to CDC, it is a condition where blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but it is not high enough to be considered as diabetes. Prediabetes increases a person’s risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

The large majority of diabetes cases are type 2. This occurs when the cells in the body gradually lose sensitivity to insulin.

Experts believe that weight gain is one major reason why type-2 diabetes is continually rising among Americans. Dr. Christine Resta, an expert on diabetes said that the increasing rates of obesity are linked to the increasing rates of diabetes.

But, another expert said that changes in the way doctors diagnose the illness may have also played a role in the increasing cases of diabetes. This is because American Diabetes Association lowered the guidelines for diabetes diagnosis, said Dr. Jacob Warman, the chief of endocrinology at The Brooklyn Hospital Center in New York City.

The CDC agreed in their report that the shift to hemoglobin A1c testing could help explain for at least some of the increasing numbers. The test measures the sugar levels of a person for a period of two to three months.

The CDC’s National Diabetes Fact Sheet for 2011 also noted that about 27 percent of diabetic Americans, or about 7 million people, still do not know that they have the diseases.