- Eating a lot of red meat, especially processed varieties, may increase the likelihood of developing diabetes by almost half, according to a new large U.S. study.
- The study found that this risk increased with each additional serving of red meat.
- However, switching some red meat to healthier protein options like beans, nuts, chicken, or fish helped lower diabetes risk.
- While this study can’t prove cause and effect, it supports current health advice and guidelines that call for limiting red meat and choosing more plant-based protein sources to help prevent diabetes.
A large-scale study in the United States has found that consuming red meat in large amounts, especially processed meat, may be associated with a higher risk of developing diabetes, which increases with every additional serving.
The findings also indicate that substituting red meat with plant-based proteins or other healthier protein sources can help reduce this increased risk by as much as 14%.
The study adds to a growing body of research that has found that eating red meat, especially processed varieties like sausages or bacon, increases the risk of type 2 diabetes.
The results are published in the British Journal of Nutrition.
Based on data from the
The researchers found that people who consumed higher amounts of processed and unprocessed red meat had a higher risk of diabetes. Specifically, individuals with the highest intake had up to 49% higher odds of diabetes compared to those who consumed the least.
Furthermore, for each additional daily serving of red meat, researchers observed a 10% to 16% increase in diabetes risk, depending on the type of red meat consumed.
What’s interesting about these findings is that the link between red meat intake and diabetes remained significant even after adjusting for body mass index (BMI). This indicates that this increased diabetes risk is not solely explained by body weight or obesity.
On a more positive note, the researchers also found that replacing red meat with plant-based proteins (nuts, legumes), poultry, dairy, whole grains, fish, or eggs was associated with a 9% to 14% lower odds of diabetes. The strongest benefit was seen with plant-based protein sources.
This adds to
Although the study has a nationally representative sample, which helps generalize the findings to the U.S. adult population, it has a few limitations.
Due to the study’s cross-sectional design and observational nature, it cannot establish whether the association between red meat and diabetes risk is causal.
The researchers only analyzed data from a single point in time. As participants were asked to recall what they had consumed over the past 24 hours at most once or twice, the study may not fully capture people’s usual eating patterns.
Hence, the study also cannot explain what happens in the long term — whether red meat consumption and its substitution with plant-based alternatives have different or more pronounced effects on diabetes development over time.
The study also leaves out how other factors, such as genetics or lifestyle behaviors, may affect this risk. There is also the potential of residual confounding, despite the researchers adjusting for many factors, e.g., BMI.
And lastly, it wasn’t possible to tell if the study participants had type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
The study discusses multiple biological mechanisms that may explain this link.
Red meat is typically higher in saturated fat, which can worsen insulin resistance over time. Red meat contains heme iron, which, in excess, may promote oxidative stress and damage to insulin-producing cells.
Another issue with processed meats is that they contain compounds formed during curing and high-heat cooking that may increase inflammation, the researchers point out.
Diets higher in processed red meat may be high in salt and nitrates, which may further impair insulin sensitivity. Such diets may also lack fiber-rich plant foods, which can affect
Medical News Today spoke to two experts — David Cutler, MD, board certified family medicine physician at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA, and Michelle Routhenstein, MS, RD, CDCES, CDN, a registered dietitian specializing in heart disease, who were both not involved in the study, to learn more about red meat and its effects on Health.
Red meat is usually classified as muscle meat that comes from animal sources such as beef, pork, lamb, or goat.
“[R]ed meat is generally defined to include beef, veal, pork, lamb, and game meat. In talking to my patients, I will refer to red meat as animals with four legs. The reason red meat has this adverse effect is not clear. Whether it is the saturated fat, the type of protein, or some other property of ingesting the muscle of four-legged animals is not understood,” said Cutler.
“There are longstanding recommendations from nutrition and diabetes experts to limit red meat by consuming it only in low frequency and small amounts, choosing leaner cuts and avoiding processed meats, like bacon, ham, and sausages, altogether,” Cutler said.
“For my patients, I suggest no more than two servings of red meat per week, with a serving about the size of your fist, 4 – 6 ounces. Great confusion has been caused by the new 2025 – 2030 FDA food pyramid, which emphasizes high protein foods, encourages intake of animal fats, and places a big steak at the top of the pyramid,” he explained to MNT.
Meanwhile, Routhenstein underscored the importance of individual and family medical history when making such decisions.
“For someone with prediabetes, metabolic syndrome, or a strong family history of diabetes, a practical target is limiting red meat to about one serving per week or less and keeping processed meats as rare as possible,” she said.
As much as the study has indicated an increased risk of diabetes with red meat, experts agree that demonizing food groups is not the answer to a healthy and balanced diet.
“The takeaway is not that red meat is forbidden, but that overall dietary pattern matters most. A way of eating centered on legumes, nuts, vegetables, whole grains, fish, poultry, and fermented dairy, with red meat eaten occasionally rather than daily, is consistently associated with better metabolic Health,” Routhenstein said.
Cutler said it was important to create a dietary plan that both helps prevent diabetes and maintains adequate protein intake.
“Substitution of alternative dietary components, particularly plant-based protein sources, poultry, dairy, eggs, or whole grains for total, processed, or unprocessed red meat would be beneficial,” Cutler said.
“And studies suggest these substitutions will lower the odds of developing diabetes. Other protein sources, such as fish and other seafood, are also healthier substitutes for red meat,” he added.
Apart from reducing red meat consumption, as this study suggests, there are certain lifestyle changes that can help reduce a person’s risk of developing diabetes. Diversifying one’s protein sources can be a good place to start.
“If someone currently eats red meat daily, even reducing by one serving per day and replacing it with another protein source has been associated with meaningful reductions in diabetes risk,” Routhenstein said.
“Reducing added sugar and ultra-processed foods, encouraging plant-based proteins and whole grains, and not forgetting to control weight and promote exercise will all contribute to decreasing the risk of developing diabetes,” Cutler said.
“However, any measures which increase red or processed meats, reduce whole grains or emphasize saturated fat consumption would likely offset these benefits and increase the risk of developing diabetes,” he added.
