When given the choice between a burger made with turkey or beef, you may want to start opting for the poultry, if you don’t already do so. You may also want to go even further and make sure it’s as close to unprocessed as possible. Both processed and red meat, long associated with many chronic health problems, may increase a person’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
According to a new study published in the September issue of the diabetes and endocrinology journal The Lancet, regularly consuming processed and/or red meat was found to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes in participants across the globe.
Senior study author Dr. Nita Forouhi, professor of population health and nutrition at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, told CNN this study is the most comprehensive.
Researchers pulled data from almost two million people spanning 20 different countries to conduct the study. Forouhi explained that the team also considered “diet quality, physical activity, smoking, alcohol intake, energy intake, and body mass index that could impact the results and that may otherwise exaggerate or mask the relationship of meat and type 2 diabetes.”
However, since the study was observational, researchers could not fully conclude whether meat consumption was the sole cause of the increased risk. According to CNN, the team’s data didn’t factor in family history, insulin resistance, and waist circumference. The study focused exclusively on red meat, so there also isn’t any sound data on whether poultry or fish pose an increased risk.
Still, Forouhi insists the “connection is strong” and noted to the publication that “these findings were consistent across populations in different world regions and countries.”
The findings of this study do, in fact, confirm and align with current thinking around risk behaviors for chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes. Red meat is also associated with a higher risk of heart disease, the United States’ biggest health threat.
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Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition that causes a person’s body to malfunction when turning food into energy. With type 1 diabetes, a person is typically born with the disease or it develops earlier in life, such as in childhood, and develops when the pancreas stops developing insulin altogether. With type 2, a person’s pancreas stops producing as much insulin as it used to.
Black Americans continue to be impacted by diabetes disproportionately. Behind Native American and Alaskan Native adults, Black Americans are the second most at-risk group. According to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health, in 2018, Black adults were 60% more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than non-Hispanic white adults. In 2024, the office reported that 12.1% of Black adults had diabetes compared to 7.4% of non-Hispanic white adults.
There are a host of reasons why Black Americans continue to be at such high risk, including systemic barriers to proper healthcare, access to affordable and convenient healthy whole foods, and family history. The condition is also expensive to manage and treat. The American Diabetes Association estimates that people with diabetes incur medical expenses 2.6 times higher than those who do not. Diabetes is also largely managed through diet and insulin. While pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly has made strides to make insulin more accessible, grocery store bills remain high, and food deserts persist throughout the country.
Lifestyle can also be a major contributing factor. Understanding your family history with diabetes or other chronic conditions is key in understanding whether there are any risk behaviors you should avoid, specifically in your diet. In other words, if many of your kin have developed diabetes and are also known to throw down on the barbecue, it could be time to make a change.
