High beef and pork intake puts men at greater risk of diabetes

Eating large amounts of beef or pork each day increases the risk of type 2 diabetes for men, according to new Japanese research.
A team of researchers from Japan’s National Cancer Center and National Center for Global Health and Medicine analysed meat consumption among 64,000 non-diabetic adults aged between 45 and 75 over a five-year period in the late 1990s. During this period, some 1,200 participants were diagnosed with diabetes.
After comparing meat intake with diabetes rates, they found that men who ate the highest amount of beef or pork (around 83 grams daily) were 42% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those in the lowest consuming group (about 15 grams of the meat).
However, no increase in risk was seen in women and there was also no association between the intake of other meat products, such as ham and sausages, and onset of type 2 diabetes in both male and female subjects.
Kayo Kurotani, senior researcher at the National Center for Global Health and Medicine, said both beef and pork contain high amounts of iro, which can increase the body’s resistance to insulin, and added that iron stores are naturally higher in men.
The researcher suggested that men who eat a lot of beef and pork lower replace part of their intake with chicken and fish.