OUR voices allow us to express lots of different thoughts and feelings. But they might also offer warning signs that can predict your future health. Israeli scientists found teens who stammer are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes as adults than those who don't have the speech impediment.
An estimated 80 million people around the world speak with a stammer (also known as a stutter in many countries). Celebs like Emily Blunt and Tiger Woods have spoken openly about their struggles with the condition. It usually leaves sufferers knowing what they want to say, but having difficulty saying the words.
Their speech is typically disrupted by repetitions, pauses or stops. In the new study, published in Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Reviews , the team followed the lives of more than 866,000 people to find out how stammering affected their long-term health. The researchers found those with speech issues were significantly more likely to have high blood sugar levels in adulthood, which is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes.
Teenage girls who stammer are up to 61 per cent more likely to have high blood sugar levels when they grow up compared to their peers who don't stutter, it revealed. Meanwhile, teenage boys who stammer are just 18 per cent more likely to have high blood sugar when they grow up. The exact reason for the link between stuttering and type 2 diabetes is not yet known.
However, some scientists believe it may be due to shared genetic factors. Some studies have found t.