The Times reports today on a study which found that eating red meat twice a week significantly increases the risk of developing type II diabetes. It’s the most recent study to identify a link between red meat and diabetes. The scientists work out of Harvard University. They looked at data from 216,000 adults in America who had agreed to have their diets monitored.
Over the period of the survey, 22,000 developed type II diabetes. The study revealed that the risk of the disease increased with the more red meat that they ate and it was particularly noticeable if they ate processed meat including burgers and sausages.
The experts have suggested that people switch from bacon, sausages and ham to vegetarian options such as cheese, nuts, beans or tofu to protect against a disease which is becoming far too commonplace in the West.
In numbers, people on a diet of at least two portions of red meat a day were on average 62% more likely to develop type II diabetes than those who restricted themselves to eating two servings of red meat a week.
But even those who ate red meat twice a week were 18% more likely to develop diabetes compared to vegetarians.
The senior author of the study, Prof Walter Willett, said: “A limit of one serving per week of red meat would be reasonable for people wishing to optimise their health.”
The study is published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The report concluded that switching from one daily serving of red meat to nuts or beans lower the risk of type II diabetes by 30%.
In addition, The Times reports that red meat has been proven to increase the risk of bowel cancer.
In the UK, 5 million citizens have diabetes. A lot of it is due to obesity. Clearly red meat add to the likelihood of developing type II diabetes which causes other major health problems such as heart disease, stroke and kidney disease. It also causes eye problems with the retina. The condition is called “diabetic retinopathy”. This is the result of high blood sugar levels which damages blood vessels in the retina. The blood vessels swell and leak causing blurry vision or stopping blood flow.
