OTTAWA: Work stress doubles the risk of developing diabetes for women who have little or no control over what they do on the job, according to a new Canadian study.
The same is not true for men also.
"Men and women react differently to workplace stress," Peter Smith, lead author of the nine-year study by researchers at the Institute for Work and Health and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto, said that .
Smith suggested that women under stress may be "more likely to turn to foods with higher fat and sugar content than men," as one possible explanation for the results.
The primary reasons outlined in the study for the increased risk for women are the disruptions of neuroendocrine and immune system functioning and increased or prolonged cortisol and sympathetic hormone release in reaction to stress; and changes in diet and energy expenditure, possibly as coping mechanisms.
The researchers followed 7,443 women working in Canada's Ontario province with no previous diagnoses for diabetes.
