WASHINGTON – Researchers have found that high insulin levels might increase the risk of developing prostate cancer.

Lead researcher Dr Demetrius Albanes, of the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., examined the relationship of the level of serum insulin and glucose, as well as surrogate indices of insulin resistance, to the development of prostate cancer.

The study showed that elevated insulin levels in the normal range appear to be associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer.

When subjects in the second through fourth quartiles of serum insulin concentration were compared with those in the first or lowest quartile, higher insulin levels within the normal range were associated with statistically significantly increased risk of prostate cancer.

The findings appear in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.