New Research Study: benign brain tumors less likely with high blood sugar

I’ve always thought that obesity and diabetes were risk factors for meningioma.

But the results of a research study in The British Journal of Cancer reports findings that contradict that belief and previous studies. Here’s a link to the abstract:  http://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/bjc2016157a.html

Science Daily highlighted this contradiction writing “In a surprising twist, benign brain tumors that have previously been tied to obesity and diabetes are less likely to emerge in those with high blood sugar, new research has found.”
- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160620100649.htm

The Science Daily article provided context noting that “… previous research had established that the slow-growing tumors are more common among people who are obese and those who have diabetes, researchers led by The Ohio State University's Judith Schwartzbaum set out to look for a relationship between meningiomas and blood markers, including glucose.”

This relationship made sense to me as a non-scientist and a meningioma survivor: if I lead an unhealthy lifestyle, I could get whacked with a brain tumor. The unexpected finding seems to have also confused Schwartzbaum who said: "It's so unexpected. Usually diabetes and high blood sugar raises the risk of cancer, and it's the opposite here."

And she should know, Schwartzbaum is an associate professor of epidemiology and a researcher in Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center. 

This confusion or unexpected result has dampened my sense of control, or at least my hope that I can improve my odds of avoiding a meningioma reoccurrence by doing what I thought made sense – staying thin. Now another weapon/practice/solution has been deleted from my arsenal.

Arrggghhh!

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