Image by Dinner Series via FlickrDid you know
that eating just two strips of bacon or one hot dog a day will DOUBLE your risk
of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus? A study published in 2011 by the Harvard School
of Public Health shows a very strong link between consumption of processed
meats and type 2 diabetes. This was a
huge study, consisting of 442,101 participants—almost 30,000 of which went on
to develop type 2 diabetes during the study.
Processed meats
include items such as hot dogs, packaged lunch meat, deli meats such as pastrami
and breakfast items such as sausage and bacon.
Only a single serving of one of these items a day will double-up your
odds of eventually becoming diabetic.
Even if one avoids processed meats altogether, the consumption of a single
100 gram serving (3.5 oz.) of unprocessed red meat each day, such as a
hamburger or steak, also increases diabetes risk by almost 20%. On the other
end of the scale, the Harvard study shows that replacing red and processed meat
with healthier proteins, such as nuts or whole grains, can significantly lower
the risk.
What are the
consequences of diabetes? It is the
leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, and amputations of legs or feet not
due to accidental cause.
Here’s a
scary fact: According to the CDC, if
current trends hold, 1 out of 3 people will have type 2 diabetes by 2050. Just last year, almost 2 million new cases
were diagnosed. If these trends are not
reversed by shifting the world to a healthier plant-based diet, the current health
care systems will be overwhelmed.
Type 2 is the
most common type of diabetes accounting for 90-95% of all cases. It is caused
when the body loses its ability to produce and use insulin, which is the
hormone that converts sugars into energy. When this happens, glucose and fats
remain in the blood, and over time will cause the body to degenerate.
It is suspected
that the nitrates used to preserve processed meats as well as the higher
amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol in both processed and unprocessed red
meat are responsible for triggering type 2 diabetes.
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