Red meat linked with increased diabetes risk; Lancet study gives evidence

Consuming red meat is related to a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, according to an analysis of more than 1.9 million adults from 20 countries across world regions, including southeast Asia, providing the "most comprehensive evidence to date."

Published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology journal, the analysis found that a habitual consumption of three types of meat and their daily amounts - 50 grams of processed meat, 100 grams of unprocessed red meat and 100 grams of poultry - was related to 15 per cent, 10 per cent and eight per cent increases in risk of developing type 2 diabetes, respectively.

The international team of researchers from the US, UK, Brazil, Mexico, among others, said that intake of meat exceeds recommended levels in many regions of the world and has been correlated with non-communicable diseases, including type 2 diabetes.

However, all the existing evidences are largely based on studies from high-income countries, mainly in North America and Europe, they said.

For this study, the researchers included 31 cohorts from the InterConnect project, data for which was compiled from scientific studies and online registries, including unpublished information. Of the total 1,966,444 participants, more than a hundred thousand developed type 2 diabetes during follow-up, typically lasting 10 years.

"The positive associations of unprocessed red meat and processed meat with incident type 2 diabetes were significant in the region of the Americas (13 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively), in the European region (six per cent and 13 per cent), and in the Western Pacific region and east Asia (17 per cent and 15 per cent)," the authors wrote.

They also estimated that replacing 50 grams of daily intake of processed meat with 100 grams of unprocessed red meat lowered the risk of type 2 diabetes by seven per cent on an average.

Further, diabetes risk was found to fall by 10 per cent on replacing 50 grams of processed meat daily intake with 100 grams of poultry a day.

The researchers, however, found no evidence that replacing unprocessed red meat with poultry helped in cutting down diabetes risk.