UK Helath Radio Medical News Update Type 2 Diabetes and Shift Work

UK Health Radio Medical News Update

There has always been a lot of talk around the effects that shift work has on us.  Now a report suggests that type 2 diabetes is more common in people who work shifts.

The findings, published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, indicated that men and those doing rotating shifts were at the highest risk.

It seems that disruption to the body clock affects waistlines, hormones and sleep - all factors that could increase the risk of developing this condition. The advice from Diabetes UK is that shift workers should be sure that they eat a healthy balanced diet.

Studies conducted in sleep laboratories have shown that making people snooze at the wrong time of day led to the early stages of type 2 diabetes developing in a matter of a few weeks. Analysis of data from 226,652 people strengthened the link with type 2 diabetes.

The study, carried out by researchers at the University of Science and Technology in China, showed shift workers were 9% more likely to have type 2 diabetes.  However, in men, the figure was 35%. And for people chopping and changing between day and night shifts, the risk increased by 42%.

The researchers concluded that male shift workers should pay more attention to the prevention of diabetes.

Given the increasing prevalence of shift work worldwide and the heavy economic burden of diabetes, the results of the study provide practical and valuable clues for the prevention of diabetes.

Possible explanations for the development of diabetes amongst shit workers include shift work disrupting sleeping and eating patterns. One idea is that eating late at night makes the body more prone to store the energy as fat, increasing the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

It seems that shift workers should be educated about diabetic symptoms in an effort to forestall or avert the earliest clinical manifestations of the disease.

Dr Alasdair Rankin, from the charity Diabetes UK, said: "These findings suggest that shift workers need to be aware of their personal risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

"They can do this by taking a type 2 diabetes risk assessment, either online or in their local pharmacy.

We know that the best way to reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes is to maintain a healthy weight through regular physical activity and by eating a healthy balanced diet."

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio Medical News Update

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