Those affected can mitigate the risks by maintaining a healthy weight, eating well, keeping active and not smoking, says Diabetes UK, which part-funded the research.

The health body adds that the findings help to highlight how people with type 2 are at increased risk of breast, bowel and pancreatic cancer and it could lead to new ways of preventing disease.

Are you at risk?

Being overweight or obese increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, with obese people having around a seven times greater risk of the condition than those of a healthy weight.

But other factors, such as not getting enough exercise and genetics, also play a role.

Hundreds of different genetic variants have already been identified as contributing to type 2, and it is known that genetics can increase the risk of cancer.

However, the genetic factors that contribute to the link between type 2 diabetes and increased cancer risk have been poorly understood until now.

In the new study, led by Professor Inga Prokopenko at the University of Surrey, experts looked at genetics to see if they could help to explain why some people with type 2 diabetes also get cancer.

They focused on the three cancer types that people with type 2 diabetes are at higher risk of developing – post-menopausal breast cancer, colorectal (bowel) cancer and pancreatic cancer.

The team used DNA data from more than 36,000 people from several European countries for the study, including people living with type 2 diabetes and cancer.

The researchers identified, for the first time, that two specific genetic variants are key contributors to people developing both type 2 diabetes and cancer.

One variant was linked to the risk of developing both breast cancer and type 2 diabetes, while the other affected type 2 diabetes and breast, bowel and pancreatic cancer risk.