Tobacco & Diabetes Fact Sheet
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| While quitting smoking or chewing tobacco may not be easy, it could be the best thing you can do to prevent the complications of diabetes. |
| Your blood sugar level Tobacco raises your blood sugar level. This makes it harder to control your diabetes. Nicotine and other products in tobacco smoke make it more difficult for insulin to work properly.(1) Additionally, chewing tobacco is high in sugar.(2) |
| Your eyes If you use tobacco, it is more likely you will experience even more trouble with your sight. Diabetes can block the tiny vessels in the eyes. This condition is called retinopathy. Tobacco makes your eyes even less healthy.(3) |
| Your teeth If you smoke or chew tobacco and have diabetes, you will have a greater chance of developing gum disease and losing your teeth.(4) the sugar and harsh chemicals in tobacco eat away at the teeth and gums.(2) |
| Your nerves If you have diabetes, smoking will increase the risk of nerve damage in all parts of your body, causing numbness and pain. This may occur because tobacco damages the blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrients to the nerves. Smoking slows down blood flow and blocks blood vessels in the penis, the nerve damage reduces sensation. If you are a man who uses tobacco and has diabetes, you are more likely to experience problems having an erection.(5) |
| Your heart You are more likely to have a heart attack or stroke and three times more likely to die of heart disease if you have diabetes and use tobacco. The nicotine in all tobacco products increases your heart rate. The carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke reduces oxygen in the blood. Tobacco causes blood vessels to constrict. This means your heart has to work harder to pump blood through the body. Smoking makes the blood vessels so that fat attaches to the vessel walls even faster, causing them to clog. Uncontrolled blood glucose levels also cause blood vessels to narrow. Together, these symptoms lead to heart attack and stroke.(6) |
| Your feet It is extremely unusual for a person with diabetes to have a leg amputated due to blocked blood vessels unless they use tobacco. Tobacco slows the circulation to smaller blood vessel People with diabetes are already more likely to suffer from poor circulation in their feet and legs. Tobacco use can also aggravate foot ulcers, foot infections and blood vessel disease in the legs.(7) |
| Your kidneys Even in people without diabetes, smoking triples the chances of developing kidney disease. Smoking increases blood pressure and affects chemicals in the body that control kidney function.(8) Medications that successfully prevent kidney failure in most non-smoking diabetics (ACE inhibitors) may not help tobacco users with diabetes.(9) |
References: |
This fact sheet was adapted from the Utah Tobacco Prevention & Control Program. |
