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# Red meat boosts type 2 diabetes mellitus risk in men
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/red_meat_type_2_diabetes_mellitus_0613131058/
- Published: 2013-06-13T23:57:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:01:43.000Z
- Description: Among 27,425 Japanese men followed five years, those eating the most total meat and the most red meat were 35 and 48 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes. No link showed up in women, or for processed red meat and poultry in either sex.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Diabetes, Avoiding Illness, #vivvo-import

Thursday June 13, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- Sugar is not the only foodstuff that increases the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. A new study in British Journal of Nutrition suggests that eating red meat can increase the risk too.

The study led by Kayo Kurotania from National Center for Global Health and Medicine in Tokyo, Japan and colleagues shows that men in the highest quartile of total meat and total red meat intakes were 35% and 48% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes mellitus, respectively, compared with those in the lowest quartile.

The study was based on data from 27,425 men and 36,424 women aged 45 to 75 years who participated in the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study. At baseline, the participants were free of type 2 diabetes, cancer, stroke, ischemic heart disease, chronic liver disease and kidney disease.

During five years of follow-up, 1178 cases of type 2 diabetes mellitus were identified.

The study did not find an association between meat or red meat consumption and increased risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus among women. Consumption of processed red meat and poultry was not associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes in either men or women.

The researchers concluded "elevated intake of red meat is associated with the increased risk of type 2 diabetes in Japanese men but not in women."

Red meat has heme iron, which is a major source of iron. Iron found in meat may play a role in the increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, according to another study in Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Review.

Setor K. Kunutsor from University of Cambridge in Cambridge, UK and colleagues reviewed 12 studies of 185,462 participants of whom 11,079 were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus and found those who had highest iron storage or ferritin levels were 73 percent more likely than those in the lowest levels.

Three studies cited in the review found higher dietary heme iron intake was associated with 29 percent increased risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus. Those who ingested 5 mg per day of heme iron had their risk for the disease increased by 234%.

These studies indicate that it is not just sugar that can increase risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Lab studies have shown saturated fat and trans fat can also damage insulin-producing cells. Red meat has not only high heme iron, but also high amounts of saturated fat. (reporting by David Liu, PHD)