If you love meat, you may want to look away now.
Scientists at Harvard University have issued a stark warning about red meat, urging the public to slash their intake following the release of a new study. The team of US experts analysed data from more than 200,000 participants across 36 years to uncover what ‘heme iron’ does to our health.
While this may not ring a bell, it’s actually the form of iron that’s most readily absorbed by the human body, found in various meats including beef, lamb, liver and some types of fish. Disturbingly, they found a ‘significant link’ between this type of iron and the onset of type two diabetes, raising concerns about typical daily dietary choices.
“This study underscores the importance of healthy dietary choices in diabetes prevention,” said corresponding author Frank Hu, Fredrick J. Stare Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology. “Reducing heme iron intake, particularly from red meat, and adopting a more plant-based diet can be effective strategies in lowering diabetes risk.”
Type two diabetes, a prevalent condition behind the surge in blood sugar levels, is influenced by numerous factors including heredity, age, and body weight.
Sufferers often experience excessive thirst, weariness, and frequent urination, although some exhibit no symptoms at all. Long-term implications of type two diabetes, as pointed out by researchers, include an increased hazard of dementia, a decline in mental sharpness that affects close to a million individuals across the UK.
Results of the Harvard study unveiled that participants who consumed the most heme iron had a 26% higher risk of developing type two diabetes than those who consumed the least. Heme iron also accounted for more than half of the type two diabetes risk associated with unprocessed red meat.
These are undoubtedly worrying results but fear not. Scientists suggest you can mitigate against this risk by swapping red meat for more plant-based foods on a day-to-day basis. Foods like legumes, nuts, seeds and dried fruit usually boast a lot of ‘non-heme iron’.
The results show this isn’t linked to a worsened risk of type two diabetes. However, scientists did acknowledge that further research is required to understand the full impact of this.
Their sample group was 79% female and predominantly white, despite the heightened risk of type two diabetes among people of Black African, African Caribbean and South Asian backgrounds.
This study was published by Nature Metabolism.