Long-term use of insulin does not lead to cancer or heart attacks

Scientists have claimed that people who have daily insulin injections for many years to manage their pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes do not face a greater risk of cancer, heart attack or stroke.
The Canadian-led, ORIGIN international research project, funded by Sanofi and reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, involved over 12,500 people across 40 countries who were identified as high risk of developing or being in the early stages of type 2 diabetes. Participants were split into two groups, one receiving a daily injection of the insulin glargine and the other having no insulin for an average of six years.
It was shown that there was no difference between the groups in terms of cardiovascular outcomes or the development of any cancers, indicating that using daily insulin injections to manage blood sugar levels was not damaging over a long period.
The findings countered the belief that taking insulin can lead to cardiovascular disease and some cancers, although it did not take into account patients with type 1 diabetes, who usually take different amounts and types of insulin. Lead researcher, Hertzel Gerstein from McMaster University in Hamilto, Ontario, said “People have been debating the question of whether there are adverse consequences to long-term insulin use for years. This study provides the clearest answer yet to that question: No, there are not.”