- NEW YORK (Reuters
Health) - Eating a diet high in processed meats such as hot dogs, bacon,
salami or sausage may substantially increase a man's risk of developing
type 2 diabetes, according to the results of a large US study.
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- The good news is that diets rich in whole grains, fruits
and vegetables, fish and poultry may offer some protection against the
disease, researchers report in March the issue of Diabetes Care.
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- Experts have repeatedly warned Americans about the health
risks associated with so-called Western diets--eating food high in animal
fat and low in fruits and vegetables. But this is the first large study
to look at the relationship between consumption of processed meats and
diabetes, according to lead investigator Dr. Frank B. Hu of Harvard School
of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, and his colleagues.
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- Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disorder in which the
body can no longer properly use insulin, a pancreatic hormone that helps
shuttle the glucose (sugar) in food from the blood and into cells to be
used as energy. The condition is closely related to obesity.
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- In the current study, researchers at Harvard and the
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands
found that eating processed meat five or more times per week increased
a man's risk of developing type 2 diabetes by nearly 50%.
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- The investigators base their conclusions on data from
a long-running study of male health professionals in the US, who were between
the ages of 40 and 75 at the study's outset. Hu's team tracked dietary
habits and new diagnoses of type 2 diabetes among 42,504 men between 1986
and 1998.
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- "We found that frequent consumption of processed
meats such as bacon or hot dogs is associated with increased risk of type
2 diabetes in men," said Hu during an interview with Reuters Health.
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- "Those who ate processed meats two to four times
per week had 35% increased risk and those (who ate processed meats) five
times or more had almost 50% increased risk of diabetes," he said.
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- In contrast, a diet rich in linoleic acid--a polyunsaturated
fat found in large amounts in foods from plants including safflower, sunflower,
corn and soybean oil--offered modest protection against the disease, the
report indicates.
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- Over the study period, about 1,300 men developed type
2 diabetes. Leaner, younger men with the highest intakes of linoleic acid-rich
foods were 26% less likely than men with the lowest intakes to be diagnosed
with the disease.
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- "In order to prevent type 2 diabetes, it is prudent
to limit consumption of processed meats," Hu cautions.
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- Nevertheless, more studies are needed to investigate
the reasons why higher consumption of processed meats increase the risk
of developing type 2 diabetes, he told Reuters Health.
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- "Since the American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends
a low-fat diet for all people with diabetes, the use of high-fat foods--of
all types, which would include foods such as bacon, sausages and hot dogs--should
be limited to one to three servings per week," said Anne Daly of the
ADA in a prepared statement.
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- "This study indicates that processed meats should
be limited to even more occasional use, such as once a month," she
added.
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- SOURCE: Diabetes Care 2002;25:417-424
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