Cut the Meat to Curb Diabetes
European investigators found that women with high dietary intakes of animal protein—from meat, fish, or dairy products—showed a slightly elevated risk for type 2 diabetes. The complete findings of the international case-cohort study appear online in Diabetes Care.
“The positive association of high-protein intake with incidence of type 2 diabetes is confirmed, so (it appears that) beneficial effects in the short term are not seen in the long run in people with high protein intakes,” says lead study author Monique van Nielen, PhD, of Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
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van Nielen and her colleagues analyzed data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-InterAct study, which included the self-reported dietary intakes of about 26,000 adults from eight European countries. The prospective study had an average follow-up time of 12 years—during which, a total of 11,637 study subjects developed type 2 diabetes and 14,616 did not.
The researchers wanted to investigate whether there was an association between total, animal, and plant protein intake and the incidence of type 2 diabetes in these patients. After adjusting for other diabetes risk factors, they found a high intake of total protein was associated with a 13% higher incidence of type 2 diabetes among women than a low protein intake.
The association appeared to be stronger specifically in obese women with a body mass index >30 kg/m2, but was not significant in men at all. “Why the positive association appears for women and not men is unknown,” van Nielen says. “Hormonal factors may be involved; we are going to look into that—more studies on the exact role of protein quality (and amino-acid content) and diabetes are warranted.”
While plant protein intake was not associated with type 2 diabetes, the incidence of diabetes rose 5% for every additional 10 grams of animal protein female study participants consumed each day. The association wasn’t limited to any specific type of animal protein. “In a regular iso-energetic diet (not aiming at weight loss), limiting total protein intake—particularly from animal sources—should be considered,” van Nielen says.
Currently, she and her colleagues are conducting an intervention with soy in women, investigating insulin sensitivity after partly replacing meat with soy in a moderate high-protein diet.
—Colleen Mullarkey
Reference
van Nielen M, Feskens EJM, Mensink M, Sluijs I, Molina E, Amiano P, et al. Dietary protein intake and incidence of type 2 diabetes in Europe: The EPIC-Interact Case-Cohort Study. Diabetes Care. 2014 Apr 10. [Epub ahead of print].