The Link Between Red Meat Consumption and Type 2 Diabetes: Latest Study Findings

2023-10-21 09:45:52

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – A new study conducted by researchers at Harvard University has found that eating only two servings of red meat per week increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life, and this risk increases as consumption increases.

This large study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition on Thursday.

“The association between red meat and type 2 diabetes has been observed in different populations around the world,” said the study’s first author Xiao Gu, a postdoctoral research fellow in nutrition at Harvard’s T. H. Chan School of Public Health. “We continue to strengthen existing evidence from “With improved data and techniques, I hope our study can settle the debate regarding whether or not we should limit red meat intake for health reasons.”

The researchers said that regarding 462 million people in the world have type 2 diabetes, a rate that is increasing rapidly.

“Preventing diabetes is important because this disease in particular poses a serious burden and is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, cancer and dementia,” Gu explained.

Red meat consumption has been linked to the risk of type 2 diabetes in previous studies, but the authors of the latest research wanted to go into more detail regarding how diabetes diagnosis and related biomarkers are affected by eating red meat over a long period of time.

The authors studied 216,695 people who participated in the Nurses’ Health Study 1 and 2 and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, both of which recruited participants between 1976 and 1989. The first two studies looked at risk factors for major conditions, namely chronic diseases, among registered nurses in North America, while the last study looked at the same topics but limited them to men.

Participants, most of whom were white, had a median age of 46 years at the first National Health Study, 36 years when the Second National Health Study began, and 53 years when the HPFS program began. All were followed until 2017.

Participants reported their health status via a questionnaire every two years, and their nutritional intake was measured every two to four years with questionnaires that asked them to report their average intake of different foods and drinks over the previous year.

By the end of the follow-up periods, approximately 22,800 people had developed type 2 diabetes. Those who ate the most red meat were 62% more likely to develop the disease, compared to people who ate the least. Eating processed or unprocessed red meat was associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, respectively, by 51% and 40%.

The authors defined processed meats as including sausage, beef or bacon, and processed meat sandwiches. One serving is equivalent to 28 grams of bacon, or 45 grams of other meat.

Unprocessed meats include lean or nearly lean hamburger, regular hamburger, beef, pork or lamb as a sandwich or mixed dish, and pork, beef or lamb as a main course. 85 grams of pork, beef or lamb constitutes one serving of unprocessed meat.

“The results of this study, which were very comprehensive, confirmed current dietary guidelines to limit red meat intake,” Alice Lichtenstein, a professor of nutrition science and policy at Tufts University in Boston, who was not involved in the study, told CNN.

In addition, replacing a serving of meat with nuts or legumes reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 30%, while choosing dairy products as an alternative reduces the risk of developing it by 22%.

The relationship between meat and diabetes

Gunter Connelly, a professor of nutrition and food science at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, who was not involved in the study, said that the research does not prove that eating red meat causes type 2 diabetes.

But for researchers, there are multiple biological factors that may influence the relationship between red meat and type 2 diabetes.

For example, red meat is high in saturated fat, which reduces insulin sensitivity and the functioning of beta cells in the pancreas, which produce insulin in a regulated manner to manage blood glucose.

In addition, heme iron, the type of iron found in animal foods, can increase insulin resistance, impaired beta cell function, oxidative stress, and an imbalance of free radicals and antioxidants in the body. Free radicals, which are unstable molecules from environmental sources such as cigarette smoke or pesticides, can damage the body’s cells.

The researchers said that high use of the amino acid glycine, which is naturally present in most proteins, was observed to be associated with the risk of developing diabetes following eating red meat. The study indicates that excess body fat is another risk factor for diabetes, and red meat consumption was one of the dietary factors with the greatest association with weight gain.

Lichtenstein pointed out that reducing red meat intake can be done by reducing the number of times meat is eaten or the size of the portion, and it is best to combine the two in eating habits.

“Dairy products, legumes and nuts are consistently reported to be the best foods to replace red meat. For the former, and given the concern regarding saturated fat and beta cell function, I recommend lean and low-fat products,” she added.

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