Preliminary results from a French study show that increased consumption of a compound naturally found in red meat may be linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes of up to 63%.
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The researchers highlighted the compound "N-glycolylneuramininic acid," abbreviated as "Neu5Gc," which is a type of sugar that most mammals produce naturally, while humans lost the ability to produce it as a result of an old genetic mutation.
This compound is found particularly in red meat, specifically beef and lamb, and in smaller quantities in dairy products.
In a follow-up that lasted more than 7 years, researchers studied the relationship between the consumption of "Neu5Gc" and the development of diabetes within the French "NutriNet-Santé" study, a large study that addresses the relationship between diet, lifestyle and health.
The study included participants with an average age of 42, 79% of whom were women, and none of them had type 2 diabetes or cancer at the start of the study.
Participants recorded the foods they ate over three days, and researchers used this data to estimate their daily intake of Neu5Gc. During a follow-up period averaging 7.2 years, researchers recorded 966 new cases of type 2 diabetes.
The researchers divided the participants into five groups according to their level of consumption of "Neu5Gc" derived from meat.
The analysis showed that individuals in the highest consumption group were 63% more likely to develop diabetes compared to those in the lowest consumption group. This association remained even after accounting for other factors, including age, sex, physical activity, diet quality, smoking, and other health conditions.
The association was also observed in both men and women. Researchers found no link between dairy-derived Neu5Gc and an increased risk of diabetes, while higher overall consumption of the compound from all food sources was associated with a 37% increased risk, a link largely driven by the source derived from red meat.
When a person consumes foods containing Neu5Gc, the body can absorb and integrate the compound into its tissues. Since the human body does not produce it naturally, the immune system treats it as a foreign substance and produces antibodies against it.
Researchers believe this response may lead to chronic inflammation, which may partly explain the relationship the study observed between the consumption of "Neu5Gc" and type 2 diabetes.
Lead researcher Dr. Léopold Fizeau, from Sorbonne University Paris-Nord in Bobigny, France, said the findings support the hypothesis that chronic inflammation may be one of the mechanisms linking red meat consumption to type 2 diabetes. He added that further studies are needed to determine whether Neu5Gc itself is responsible for this association, or whether other components in red meat contribute to it.
The researchers stressed that the results do not prove a causal relationship, because the study is observational, and the results are still preliminary and may change after the analysis is completed.
Although the researchers took into account a number of risk factors, they could not rule out the influence of other lifestyle and social factors. Furthermore, estimating Neu5Gc intake based on dietary records may be subject to some measurement errors.
In future studies, researchers intend to directly measure antibodies to "Neu5Gc" and study its relationship to other components in red meat, such as heme iron, with the aim of testing the proposed mechanism and understanding the relationship with type 2 diabetes more accurately.
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