Research
Mixed
Increasing red meat consumption by more than 0.50 servings per day over a 4-year period is associated with a 48% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the subsequent 4 years.
If you are currently eating red meat, try to reduce your intake by half a serving per day over the next few years. This specific reduction is linked to a significantly lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to maintaining or increasing your current intake. You do not need to eliminate it entirely to see benefits.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
increasing red meat intake of more than 0.50 servings per day was associated with a 48% (pooled hazard ratio, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.37-1.59) elevated risk in the subsequent 4-year period
Why this rating
Large prospective cohorts with repeated measures, but observational design limits causal inference.
Source
Changes in Red Meat Consumption and Subsequent Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
An Pan et al. · JAMA Internal Medicine · 2013
DOI 10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.6633
cohort · n=149143Cited 230×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Reducing red meat consumption by more than 0.50 servings per day from baseline to the first 4-year follow-up is associated with a 14% lower risk of type 2 diabetes during the subsequent long-term follow-up (up to 16 years).Good
- The association between increased red meat consumption and type 2 diabetes risk is partly mediated by body weight gain, but remains significant even after adjusting for initial BMI and concurrent weight changes.Good
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