New study below.
For many years, I have thought of PCa as a metabolic disease. Long-term diabetics have a lower risk for PCa, yet a higher risk for all other cancer types. To me, this clearly suggests that insulin resistance may be a PCa risk factor.
In the U.S., 9.4% of the population (30.3 million) had diabetes in 2015. However, for those 65 & older the percentage was 25.2%. (American Diabetes Association)
And for every diabetic, there are almost 3 pre-diabetics.
Reading between the lines, there are few of us (in the U.S.) 65 & up who have neither insulin resistance nor diabetes.
With insulin resistance, the pancreas tries to overcome resistance by upping production, but this stimulates further resistance. Ultimately, beta cells begin to burn out & the insulin issue goes away - except that the price is diabetes.
"Insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and prediabetes are closely related to one another and have overlapping aspects." [2]
Three of the symptoms of the Metabolic Syndrome [MetS] are "high blood sugar, high serum triglycerides, and low serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL)" [2]. High blood sugar is the cause of insulin resistance, & the triglycerides:HDL-C ratio is used as a surrogate for insulin resistance.
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In the new study from South Korea:
"... 130,342 men included in the health checkup cohort in 2009 were divided into two groups according to the presence of prostate cancer."
"Prostate cancer was present in 2,369 men (1.8%) in 2009. The prevalence of prostate cancer was significantly higher in patients with MetS than in those without MetS throughout the entire follow-up duration."
"Among MetS components, decreased high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterolemia and central obesity were associated with an increased prevalence of prostate cancer after adjusting for other variables."
-Patrick
[1] link.springer.com/article/1...
[2] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metab...