Study: How Red Meat Is Cooked Affects Diabetes Risk

Barbecuing and broiling of red meat could be associated with an increased risk of diabetes among individuals who regularly consume meat, according to the results of a recent study.

For their study, researchers monitored 59,033 women, aged 30 to 55 years, who were free from diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer at baseline. They collected information on the frequency of use of various cooking methods of red meat, including broiling, barbecuing, roasting, pan-frying, and stewing/boiling.
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Overall, 6206 incident cases of type 2 diabetes occurred during 1.24 million person-years of follow-up. After multivariate adjustment, total red meat and processed red meat intake were both associated with monotonically increased risk of type 2 diabetes. After adjusting for total red meat intake, higher frequencies of broiling, barbecuing, and roasting were independently associated with higher risk of type 2 diabetes.

When comparing 2 or more times a week with less than 1 time a month, the hazard ratios were 1.29 for broiling, 1.23 for barbecuing, and 1.11 for roasting.

Stewing/boiling was not associated with type 2 diabetes risk, and pan-frying was inversely associated with type 2 diabetes risk.

“Independent of total red meat consumption, high-temperature and/or open-flame cooking methods for red meats, especially broiling and barbecuing, may further increase diabetes risk among regular meat eaters,” the researchers concluded.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Liu G, Zong G, Hu FB, et al. Cooking methods for red meats and risk of type 2 diabetes: a prospective study of US women [published online June 2017]. Diabetes Care. doi:https://doi.org/10.2337/dc17-0204