Welcome  to  public  health  moment from  the  University  of  Minnesota. Women  with  diabetes  are  50%  more  likely  to  suffer colorectal  cancer  than  those who  do  not  have  the  metabolic  disorder. That's  according  to  a  study  of  45,000  women  led by  University  of  Minnesota  epidemiologist  Andrew  Flood. We  think  that  the  reason  that the  diabetes  increases  risk is  likely  related  to  insulin  resistance. People  who  become  diabetic  type  two  diabetic  tend to  have  elevated  levels  of  insulin. And  insulin  is  a  hormone  that  has a  lot  of  powerful  metabolic  effects. It  also  has  some  direct  effects on  proliferation  potentially. And  it  interacts  with other  growth  factors  in  the  body  that are  related  to  cell  division that  we  think  could  be  very  important. Although  men  were  not  included  in  this  study. Flood  says  he  believes  that the  results  would  be  very  similar. He  adds  that  the  dramatic  increase  in  obesity  in this  country  will  lead  to more  cases  of  type  two  diabetes. And  it's  the  type  two  diabetes  that  we  saw  in  this  study that  relate  to  colorectal  cancer,  suggesting  that  a, we  should  try  to  prevent  type two  diabetes  when  we  can  prevent it  and  one  of  the  best  ways  is  to prevent  development  of  obesity. Another  is  to  treat  obesity  when  we  find  it. And  the  third  is  if  you  are  type  two  diabetic. This  is  all  the  more  reason  to  regulate your  glucose  as  best  you can  with  another  public  health  moment. I'm  John  Finnegan.