Processed and Unprocessed Red Meat Consumption and Incident Type 2 Diabetes Among French Women

Processed and Unprocessed Red Meat Consumption and Incident Type 2 Diabetes Among French Women

1. Martin Lajous, DSC¹,²⇓,Laura Tondeur, MS³,Guy Fagherazzi, PHD³,⁴,Blandine de Lauzon-Guillain, PHD³,
2. Marie-Christine Boutron-Ruaualt, PHD³,⁴ and
3. Françoise Clavel-Chapelon, PHD³,⁴

+ Author Affiliations

1. ¹Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts
2. ²Center for Research on Population Health, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca, Mexico
3. ³INSERM, Center for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health, U1018, Institut de Cancérologie Gustave-Roussy, Villejuif, France
4. ⁴Paris-South University, UMRS 1019, Villejuif, France

1. Corresponding author: Martin Lajous, mlajous(at)hsph.harvard.edu.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relation of processed and unprocessed red meat and incident type 2 diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We conducted a prospective study among 66,118 disease-free French women with dietary information from a validated questionnaire. Between 1993 and 2007, we identified 1,369 cases of incident diabetes. Multivariate analyses were adjusted for age, education, region, smoking, BMI, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, physical activity, parental history of diabetes, menopause, hormone replacement therapy, alcohol, calories, n-3 fatty acids, carbohydrates, coffee, fiber, and fruits and vegetables.

RESULTS Comparing the highest category of processed meat intake, ≥5 servings/week (median, 48 g/day), to the lowest, <1 serving/week (median, 5 g/day), processed meat was significantly associated with incident diabetes (hazard ratio 1.30 [95% CI 1.07–1.59], P trend = 0.0007; for 1 serving/day, 1.29 [1.14–1.45]). Unprocessed red meat was not associated with diabetes.

CONCLUSION In this large prospective cohort of French women, a direct association was observed only for processed red meat and type 2 diabetes.

• Received August 9, 2011.
• Accepted October 15, 2011.

• © 2012 by the American Diabetes Association.