Processed meat linked to diabetes type 2 - studies

By David Liu

Tuesday Jan 31, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Want to reduce your risk for type 2 diabetes?  Try to reduce intake of processed meat!   A new study released in the Jan 25, 2012 issue of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that eating processed meat, particularly SPAM may boost the risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus by up to 106 percent.

The study led by A.M. Fretts and colleagues from University of Washington in Seattle, WA shows that American Indians in the prospective cohort study whose intake of processed meat was in the highest quartile were 63 percent more likely than those whose intake of processed meat was in the lowest quartile.

The authors note in their study report that as many as 50 percent of American Indians develop diabetes by age 55 years.  The current study was intended to examine the association between intake of processed meat and risk for diabetes in a population of American Indians who had high incidence of diabetes and high intake of processed meat.

For the study, the researchers followed for a period of five years American Indians in the Strong Heart Family Study who were free of diabetes and cardiovascular disease at baseline.  During the follow-up, the dietary intake of meat and 243 incident cases of type 2 diabetes were identified.

However, Fretts et al. found no association between eating unprocessed red meat and risk of diabetes in the study population of American Indians.  This finding is inconsistent with previous studies such as the one led by A. Pan and colleagues of Harvard School of Public Health.

Pan et al reported in Oct 2011 in the same journal that eating 100 grams of unprocessed red meat per day was linked to a 19 percent increased risk for diabetes while eating 50 grams processed red meat was associated with a 25 percent increase.

Pan's study was based on data on 37,083 men in the Health Professional Follow-up Study (1986 to 2006) and 79,570 women in the Nurses' Health Study I (1980 to 2008) and 87,504 women in the Nurses' Health Study II (1991 to 2006).

Pan also reported some good news - that is, eating one serving of nuts, low-fat fairy and whole grains per day to repace one serving of one serving of red meat per day was correlated with a 16 to 25 percent lower risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Another early review study based on 1,600 studies led by researchers from Harvard School of Public Health found that eating 50 grams of per day of processed meat was correlated with a 19 percent increase in the risk of diabetes.

Renata Micha et al. found the association between diabetes risk and consumption of processed beef, pork and lamb products including bacon, sausage, hot dogs, salami, luncheon or processed deli meat.

Mich'a study also found  eating 50 grams of processed meat per day was linked to a 42 percent increase in the risk of heart disease.

The US government estimates that an estimated 26 million Americans live with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Could the preservatives such as nitrites and or nitrates in the processed meat increase the risk for type 2 diabetes?  Or does the high fat in SPAM cause the increase?  Saturated fat and trans fat is known to increase risk for type 2 diabetes.

Spam, which stands for styled SPAM or SPiced HAM, is a canned precooked meat product manufactured by the Hormel Foods Corporation. The typical ingredients in the classic variety of Spam include chopped pork shoulder meat, ham meat, salt, water, modified potato starch, and sodium nitrite.

Keywords: Type 2 diabetes mellitus, processed meat, red meat, SPAM, preservatives, nitrites, nitrates, heart disease.