Post-menopausal women who have Type 2 diabetes appear to have a 27% greater risk of developing breast cancer, experts say.
An international team, writing in the British Journal of Cancer, examined 40 separate studies looking at the potential link between breast cancer and diabetes.
Being obese or overweight is linked to both conditions.
But cancer experts say there may be a direct connection between the two.
These studies involved more than 56,000 women with breast cancer.
Post-menopausal women with Type 2 diabetes had a 27% increased risk of breast cancer.
But there was no link for pre-menopausal women or those with Type 1 diabetes.
The authors have also suggested that a high body mass index (BMI), which is often associated with diabetes, may be an underlying contributing factor.
Prof. Peter Boyle, president of the International Prevention Research Institute, who led the study, said: “We don’t yet know the mechanisms behind why Type 2 diabetes might increase the risk of breast cancer.
“On the one hand, it’s thought that being overweight, often associated with Type 2 diabetes, and the effect this has on hormone activity may be partly responsible for the processes that lead to cancer growth.
“But it’s also impossible to rule out that some factors related to diabetes may be involved in the process.”
Getting less than five and a half hours of sleep a night could see you gain nearly a stone in a year, say scientists.
Scientists say that even if diet and exercise habits remained the same, the changes in the body’s metabolism can cause the pounds to pile on.
A team of researchers from Boston believes this could explain why people tend to become larger as they get older and often struggle to get enough sleep at night.
They also think it could explain why night shift workers who struggle to sleep during the day are more prone to being overweight.
The academics from Boston compared the effects of sleep on 21 volunteers over six weeks.
They started off having ten hours of sleep a night but this was then reduced to just over five and a half hours at any time during the day.
Getting less than five and a half hours of sleep a night could see you gain nearly a stone in a year
Often volunteers were attempting to doze off during the day time when their body clock was telling them that they should be up and about.
The researchers found that when the subjects were deprived of sleep their metabolism rate dropped by 12%.
This is energy needed to maintain the body’s normal functions such as the lungs breathing and heart beating.
If this rate comes down, less energy or calories will be used up so weight will be gained – even if exercise levels and diets are unchanged.
It was calculated that when the volunteers slept for less than five and a half hours they burned off 120 fewer calories that day.
Over the course of a year this would lead them to put on 12.5 pounds, just under a stone.
The researchers said this could explain why people who work at night are more likely to develop obesity and diabetes. Their body clock or “circadian rhythm” is disrupted so they are unable to sleep as well during the daytime and their metabolism slows down.
Dr. Orfeu Buxton, whose study is published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, said: “Since night workers often have a hard time sleeping during the day, they can face both circadian disruption working at night and insufficient sleep during the day.
“Getting enough sleep is important for health, and sleep should be at night for best effect.”
Salma Hayek, the Mexican beauty who dated one of Hollywood’s hottest men for three years, admits that life wasn’t all hunky dory as far as her looks are concerned.
Salma Hayek, 45, opened up to the new issue of Lucky magazine about suffering “severe, severe depression” from a skin condition and being overweight as a struggling actress.
She insists it was a far different story when she was 25 and trying to break into movies.
Salma Hayek told the May issue of the women’s publication: “You want to talk about bad skin? I had acne.”
Appearing happy and healthy on the shopping title, Salma Hayek looks a natural stunner in a blue off-the-shoulder dress which accentuated her ample bust.
Salma Hayek admits that life wasn’t all hunky dory as far as her looks are concerned
With her mane of thick locks blowing in the breeze her skin looks fresh and a picture of perfection however she states it was once in terrible condition.
Salma Hayek added: “And this acne was so bad it sent me into severe, severe depression. Like I couldn’t leave the house. The next stage with that sort of depression is food – too little or too much. Guess what I did?”
The actress admits she piled on the pounds when her body reacted badly to the pressures of achieving success in the early Nineties.
“I was fat and broken out. I couldn’t leave the house and I couldn’t pay the rent!”
Salam Hayek credits director Alfonso Cuaron for teaching her “to meditate, to relax” and also says Accutane also known as Roaccutane “cured” the acne.
She continued: “Since then my skin’s forever sensitive and dry.”
As for more drastic beauty treatments, Salma Hayek insists she hasn’t tried to turn back the years yet.
Salma Hayek admitted: “Botox – trust me, I’ve been tempted, but I resist!”
