Eating More Red Meat Can Boost Type 2 Risk

Eating more red meat over time is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes in a follow-up of three studies….

An Pan, Ph.D., of the National University of Singapore, and colleagues analyzed data from three Harvard group studies and followed up 26,357 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study; 48,709 women in the Nurses’ Health Study; and 74,077 women in the Nurses’ Health Study II. Diets were assessed using food frequency questionnaires.

They found that participants who increased consumption of red meat by 0.5 or more servings a day over the course of four years had a 48 percent higher risk of developing diabetes in the four year interval. Similarly, they also found that participants who reduced consumption of red meat by 0.5 servings or more over the four years had a 14 percent less risk of developing diabetes during the follow up period.

The authors wrote, "Our results confirm the robustness of the association between red meat and type 2 diabetes and add further evidence that limiting red meat consumption over time confers benefits for type 2 diabetes prevention." Researchers also found that processed meats also increased the risk for diabetes.

In a commentary, William J. Evans, Ph.D., of GlaxoSmithKline and Duke University, Durham, N.C., writes: "The article by Pan et al confirms previous observations that the consumption of so-called red meat is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes."

"Perhaps a better description of the characteristics of the meat consumed with the greatest effect on risk is the saturated fatty acid (SFA) content rather than the amount of oxygen-carrying proteins."

JAMA Intern Med. Published online June 17, 2013. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.6633.