People who start eating increased amounts of red meat also increase their risk of developing diabetes, researchers warned last night.
The findings, reported in JAMA Internal Medicine, confirm other reports of a link between red meat and diabetes – but also suggest that increasing consumption can trigger problems.
Some experts say the findings do not mean that red meat is a specific cause of diabetes.
Researchers found that people who added the equivalent of half a helping of red meat a day increased their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by nearly half.
People who cut their consumption of red meat by the same amount cut the risk of diabetes by 14%.
Researchers at the National University of Singapore studied the records of about 150,000 health professionals involved in research projects in the USA.
The researchers, led by Dr An Pan, said: "Our results confirm the robustness of the association between red meat and type 2 diabetes mellitus and add further evidence that limiting red meat consumption over time confers benefits for prevention."
Writing in the journal Dr William Evans, of Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA, claims the findings may point to the hazards of saturated fat rather than from red blood cells.
He says: "These public health recommendations should include cuts of red meat that are also low in fat, along with fish, poultry and low-fat dairy products. It is not the type of protein (or meat) that is the problem: it is the type of fat."
JAMA Intern Med. June 17 2013; doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.6633
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