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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.
Experts have repeatedly warned
Americans about the health risks associated with so-called Western diets
-- eating food high in commercialized 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 Harvard
investigators.
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.
In the current study, researchers
found that eating processed meat five or more times per week increased
a man's risk of developing type 2 diabetes
by nearly 50%.
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.
They found that frequent consumption
of processed meats such as bacon or hot dogs is associated with increased
risk of type 2 diabetes in men.
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.
Diabetes
Care March 2002;25:417-42
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