Red Meat Increases Women's Diabetes Odds

Women may want to think twice about eating large quantities of red meat. Astudy, reported in Diabetes Care (September 2004), looked at the connectionbetween red meat consumption and the risk of type 2 diabetes. The researchinvolved 37,309 participants in the Women's Health Study who were followed for8.8 years. When the study began, the women were at least 45 years old and had nohistory of heart disease, stroke, cancer, or diabetes.

Using food questionnaires to determine the quantity of red meat the participants ate,1558 women were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes during the study. The researchersfound that women who ate the greatest amounts of red meat were 28% more likely todevelop diabetes, compared with their peers who ate the smallest amounts.