russwitherington1 / Getty ImagesProcessed meats and sugary, high-calorie drinks impair the action of insulinrusswitherington1 / Getty Images
Yet another reason to think twice before eating too much processed ham, sliced turkey breast, salami, or sausage. Interviews and clinical examinations with 10,202 higher education institution employees found that in Brazil, as in other countries, eating lots of these and other ultra-processed foods—high in calories and usually also high in sugars, fats, and additives—can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes when insulin does not function properly. After 8.2 years of monitoring, 1,799 of the participants (17.6%) had type 2 diabetes, regardless of education, family history, and whether or not they smoked. The more of these foods a person ate, the greater the risk, especially with processed meats and sweetened drinks. People who consumed dairy sweets (light or regular sweetened yogurt, ice cream, and puddings) faced a lower risk. The study, led by epidemiologists Schneide Canhada and Maria Inês Schmidt of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), is part of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (Elsa-Brasil), which since 2008 has been monitoring the health of 15,105 adults aged 35–74 in Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Vitória, and Porto Alegre (BMC Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome, November 15, 2023).
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