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A latest study has linked passive smoking to an increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes in adults.

The results of the study are based on data analysis of more than 6,300 adults who participated in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2001 to 2006.

The findings revealed that passive smokers are at higher risk of type 2 diabetes and higher Body Mass Index (BMI) when compared to active smokers.

Also, second hand smoke is believed to cause higher measure of insulin resistance, which can lead to type 2 diabetes, in people, along with increased levels of fasting blood sugar and hemoglobin A1c reading - a measure of blood sugar control over the past three months - according to Health Day.

Similar rates of diabetes were found in smokers and passive smokers, and both the groups were found to have a higher hemoglobin A1c than nonsmokers. People who smoke were found to have lower BMI than nonsmokers, according to the findings.

Although the study has established an association between secondhand smoke exposure and obesity and type 2 diabetes risks, no cause-and-effect relationship has been proved.

"The association between secondhand smoke and type 2 diabetes was not due to obesity," study co-author Dr. Theodore Friedman, chairman of the department of internal medicine at Charles R. Drew University in Los Angeles, said in an Endocrine Society news release.

"More studies are needed to show whether secondhand smoke is a cause of diabetes," Friedman added. In addition, "more effort needs to be made to reduce exposure of individuals to secondhand smoke," he concluded.

The study was scheduled for presentation on Sunday at the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in Houston.