Study shows cutting back on insulin leads to shorter life span

BOSTON Women with Type 1 diabetes who cut back on insulin to prevent weight gain are three times more likely of dying early in life, a study reports, according to USA Today.

Ann Goebel-Fabbri, a psychologist at the Joslin Diabetes Center and her colleagues studied 234 women and teens with Type 1 diabetes.

At the beginning of the study, the researchers found that 30 percent of the women were restricting the amount of insulin they took at least some of the time. The team kept track of the women for 11 years and noted any deaths or complications from their disease.

The team found that women who reported cutting back on insulin had higher rates of complications such as foot problems or kidney disease. The team also noted that women who cut down on insulin were more likely to die young: Women who restricted insulin died on average at age 45. Women who used insulin appropriately lived to an average age of 58, says the study in the March issue of Diabetes Care.