Here's the article by Alex Hutchinson for Outside.

The basic premise behind the study and article is that athletes take in more sugar than a "normal" person would. Either through sports drinks, high carb diets, gels, etc., an athlete's blood glucose may spike up more than an average person. Which dulls the body's insulin response over time leading to an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes.

The article presents older studies as well, done in 1965, of endurance athletes which showed a lower risk of diabetes. Of course this was before the time of gels and energy drinks.

I think it's important to add here that other professionals in the field have come out and said the recent study, that this article is based on, was not done thoroughly enough but they are open to the idea of endurance athletes being at a higher risk.

Much work is left to be done but I thought this article was interesting, although I am heavily biased when it comes to running and diabetes.

Thoughts?

Does this research make you question your diet and use of sport drinks/gels?