New research has found a link between type 2 diabetes and consuming heme iron which is found in animal products and some meat substitutes.
Those behind the findings say that adopting a more plant-based diet could be a “strategy” to reduce diabetes risk.
The study revealed that people with the highest heme iron consumption had a 26% greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those with the lowest intake of heme iron.
One of the study’s authors Dr Frank Hu, of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, said: “Eating a more plant-based diet and reducing the consumption of heme iron from red meat should be considered as a strategy to lower risk of diabetes and the prevention of chronic diseases.
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“Too much heme iron has also been associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and even some cancers, like colorectal cancer.”
The research follows a study by Dr Hu and colleagues last year which explored the possible link between the risk of type 2 diabetes and eating red meat.
This latest research involved data from 36 years of dietary reports from just over 204,000 adults, with the participants being divided into five groups according to their heme iron consumption.
Dr Hu reported that among the lowest quintile for heme iron intake, there were around 2.4 cases of type 2 diabetes per 1,000 person-years. This is compared to the highest quintile, where there were around 5.6 cases of type 2 diabetes per 1000 person-years.
Those in the higher intake group reported eating around eight to 10 portions of unprocessed red meat each week, compared to those in the lower group which reported eating around two to three servings a week.
One expert who commented on the findings was Dr Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University in Massachusetts.
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He considered how Dr Hu and colleagues found that heme iron intake “explained only a small proportion of the association [with diabetes risk] for processed red meat” and that the “harmful association of processed red meat and type 2 diabetes risk might be attributed to the high content of other compounds, such as nitrates and nitrites.”
Dr Mozaffarian said the findings, along with other research, point to there being other risk factors in the equation, such as inflammatory compounds, which could call into question the emphasis on fat content.
This emphasis on fat is what leads people to believe that something like low-fat meat or turkey sausage is a healthier choice than a steak or a burger, he said.
“The main take-home message for patients is that red meat neither deserves a health halo for being something you must seek out, but it also doesn’t deserve devil’s horns for being the worst thing in the food supply,” Dr Mozaffarian added.
