Is Red Meat Consumption Tied To Diabetes Risk?

A recent long-term study published last year suggests that an increase of red meat over time will put you at higher risk for developing Type 2 diabetes.
So that means thinking twice about that t-bone steak, pork chop, or hot dog this summer.
Previous research has tied the consumption of both unprocessed and processed red meat to diabetes, but this study tracked the risk of developing the disease over time. Often throughout a person's life their eating habits will change, and the risks for certain diseases will change as well.
"This is stronger evidence that red meat consumption contributes to an increased risk of diabetes," said senior author Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Researchers gathered their information from three Harvard studies that tracked 149,000 health-care professionals who filled out questionnaires about their diets every four years. The participants, both men and women, were followed for 12 to 16 years. Consumption of red meat was varied, but overall daily intake was 1 1/2 servings.
The findings were published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association and included:

• Those who increased their daily intake by as little as half a serving a day had a 48% increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes over a four year period, compared to those who maintained their red meat intake.
• Eating more red meat was associated with weight gain, and weight gain accounted for a large portion of the increased risks for developing diabetes. 
• People who decreased their red meat consumption over four years did not have a reduced risk of developing the disease. Instead, they had a reduced risk of developing diabetes by 14% over ten years.

The findings apply to both processed red meat, like lunch meats and hot dogs, but also unprocessed red meat, like hamburger, steak, or pork chops. The association was higher for processed meats, said lead author An Pan of the National University of Singapore, who worked on the study while he was at Harvard.
The authors state that this study does not prove cause and effect, but is instead observational.
Hu believes that the high amount of nitrates and sodium in processed meats are factors in the risk for diabetes, as well as the heme iron in red meat. Iron typically helps prevent anemia, but a majority of people in the United States have an iron overload. He recommends eating more nuts, low-fat dairy, and whole grains and reducing your daily consumption of red meat.
William Evans, head of the Muscle Metabolism Discovery Performance Unit at GlaxoSmithKline and an adjunct professor of geriatric medicine at Duke University says that, "the interaction of the many genetic and lifestyle factors that contribute to the cause of type 2 diabetes is remarkably complex and still not well understood. The major factors associated with the risk are levels of physical activity, body fatness, distribution of body fat, and diet."
Evans doesn't believe that red meat is the sole problem, "but the amount of saturated fat in meat. Saturated fat causes the inflammation in the body which increases the risk of bad things like heart disease and diabetes.
"You can eat lean cuts of beef like sirloin tip steak, top round steak, and beef tips that are extremely low in fat and saturated fat, even lower than a number of cuts of chicken. Cheddar cheese has as much saturated fat as a T-bone steak."
Reference: USA Today
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