Study: Meat consumption and incident type 2 diabetes: an individual-participant federated meta-analysis of 1·97 million adults with 100 000 incident cases from 31 cohorts in 20 countries. Image Credit: Tatjana Baibakova / Shutterstock.com A recent Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology study explores how consuming different types of meat may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D).
Meat consumption and the risk of T2D Previous studies have reported an increased risk of T2D associated with the consumption of processed meat and unprocessed red meat. However, differences in evidence-grading approaches and interpretation of these studies limit researchers from drawing definitive conclusions on this association. Furthermore, it remains unclear how poultry consumption may affect the risk of T2D.
In addition to the heterogeneity in published findings, geographical imbalances have also been observed, as most studies have been conducted in the United States and Europe. Thus, additional studies in other regions are crucial to understand potential sources of heterogeneity. To date, no study has conducted a meta-analysis of individual participant data to assess the association between T2D risk and meat consumption.
About the study The geographical distribution of the 31 cohorts The hypothesis of the current study was that the consumption of processed meat and unprocessed red meat is associated with a higher incidence of T2D and that this association is absent in the case of poultry consum.