A new study has shown a link between type-2 diabetes and snus. But the study does not show that snus on its own significantly increases the risk of contracting the disease.

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet, a medical university in Sweden, studied the link between smoking, snus and type-2 diabetes by studying the Swedish twin registry.

The aim was to investigate the unique and shared genetic components of tobacco use and diabetes, and the extent to which any link could be explained by common genetic factors.

The researchers found that smokers had a 70 percent increased risk of developing type-2 diabetes, while snus only increased the risk  by 19 percent.

“The possible increase in risk that exists is marginal and should be viewed in relation to the risk associated with being moderately overweight, which increases the risk by 300 percent,” says Tryggve Ljung, Senior Vice President Scientific Affairs at Swedish Match.. 

”The most important thing you can do to reduce the risk of developing diabetes is to exercise and remain at a healthy weight.”

The role of snus ‘insignificant’

According to Ljung, more than half of adult Swedes are moderately overweight (BMI> 25) while 13 percent of the population suffers from obesity (BMI> 30), which means an increase in the risk of type-2 diabetes which is 50 times higher than with snus .

“The significance is small and seems to be limited to those who use at least four packages of snus a week. When it comes to diabetes, weight is the absolutely dominant risk factor that can be influenced,” Ljung says. 

The role of snus in the prevalence of diabetes in Sweden is “insignificant”, he continues.

One of the reasons is that there are only about 100,000 snus users in the country who use more than four boxes a week, compared to 4 million adult Swedes who have a BMI higher than 25.

Ljung argues that snus users do not need to worry about of the conclusions in the study.

“My advice to anxious snus users who want to reduce their risk of developing diabetes is to try to influence the more significant lifestyle factors: food, weight and exercise,” he says.