Red, Processed Meats Up Diabetes Risk

Researchers in the Untied States have found that a diet rich in red meat, processed meat, refined grains etc. can increase your risk of developing diabetes by 50 percent over 14 year period than those who do not. Researchers think that the chemical change that occurs when there items are cooked may be the cause. Boy, giving up my steaks is going to be a tough sell good thing I cook them rare eh?

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Red meats and processed meats such as hot dogs appear to increase the risk of diabetes, as does a heavily "Western" diet, according to new research released Monday.

U.S. investigators found that people that ate mostly Western foods - including sweets, French fries, refined grains such as white bread, and red and processed meats - were nearly 50 percent more likely to develop diabetes over a 14-year period than people who ate minimal amounts of Western-type foods.

Breaking down the diet into its parts, the researchers found that the more red and processed meats people ate, the more their risk of diabetes increased. For instance, each additional daily serving of red meat increased a person's risk of diabetes by 26 percent; adding another serving of processed meat upped their chances of the disease by nearly 40 percent.

Red Meat

All things in moderation... have your steak, just not every meal and don't be so gullible to do that Atkins bull and wreck your kidneys.

Refined flour and breads, however, make more sense in helping speed along diabetes. The glycemic index and spike in blood sugar when you eat them is crazy high.

Have your steak, hold the wonder bun, and have a nice whole grain roll instead.

Atkins has never CAUSED kidney problems; more likely the diet can aggravate a PRE-EXISTING condition.

I've found that if I up my fat intake (not trans-fats) and lower my carb intake, I drop weight big-time. I've actually gained weight on low-fat diets.

First-hand experience.

Originally posted by Amethyst
Atkins has never CAUSED kidney problems; more likely the diet can aggravate a PRE-EXISTING condition.

I've found that if I up my fat intake (not trans-fats) and lower my carb intake, I drop weight big-time. I've actually gained weight on low-fat diets.

First-hand experience.

Ehh! Wrong - it CAUSES kidney problems when your body and kidneys have to work harder to rid the body of the ketones that build up with the breakdown of protien. Obviously, pre-existing conditions are worsened also, but Atkins diets can easily cause problems on their own. When it's not able to rid them fast enough, it actually causes ketosis and it's potentially deadly. High protien diets are hard on your body. Period. Cut out carbs completely, and you die. Even Atkins starts working carbs back in after a short period of time. Losing weight does not equal health and good body function. People on diets lose weight, so do people that are dying.

It's possible to gain lots of weight on low fat diets if youre eating more calories. Knock out any major source of energy : protiens, fats, or carbs, and you'll likely lose weight because your calories are reduced. A good and appropriate balance of all three, however, leads to permanent safe weight loss, is better for your body, prevents disease and organ failure, and is much more fun to eat.

Rapid weight loss - more than 1-2 pounds per week, is often water related, and not a permanent weight loss solution. Atkins people lose great amounts of water early in the diet as their kidneys work to rid the biproducts of turning protien into usable glucose - hence your kidney problems and rapid weight loss.

First hand experience, second hand experience, graduate school, common sense

Actually--early in the diet you lose a lot of water weight, why?

Because insulin retains sodium, which makes you retain water. Drop the insulin levels by reducing carb intake, and it works like a water pill.

Know what ketosis is? Where the body burns up stored fat. And that's the point of any diet, right? Carbs are a body's primary fuel source. If the body can't find carbs, it goes to its stored fat, its secondary fuel source. There's nothing wrong with ketosis, and oh, btw, in the Atkins Induction phase, you go down to 20 grams of carbs per day. Not zero.

I think the "Atkins causes kidney disease", ad nauseum, are just scare tactics. Low-fat does not work for me. Low-fat diets make me feel worn out. I've been on the Atkins diet and believe you me I feel a LOT better on it!

My husband also notices a difference in my behavior when I'm on a low-carb diet. On a low-carb diet, he says, my mood swings all but disappear. I used to be on an anti-depressant, but a change of diet enabled me to get off it, and I haven't had major depression in years!

I don't care what someone learned in school. You just learn propaganda. That's like saying "I graduated summa cum laude from X University, I learned that 2+2=5 there, and anyone that says 2+2=4 is just jerking your chain!"

Your body is burning some stored fat, yes, but thats not what ketosis is, and why its caused. It's a buildup of acid in your blood that changes the pH and is and can be deadly. When your body breaks down protiens and tries to convert them to energy there are byproducts, and they need to be removed from your body.

Nowhere above did I say "Atkin's causes kidney disease" I said it was rough on your kidneys, and it is.

Losing water weight is NOT losing fat, nor is it a permanent weight loss.

Carbs are not the body's primary food source, glucose is, and its most easily gained from carbohydrates. Surplus energy is then stored as fat.

I also did not tell you to just go "low fat" - its the low CAL that causes weight loss. I could eat three pounds of jelly beans - no fat - and not lose weight. I put forward that a good and balanced diet is the best bet if you're going for health and not just a lower weight.

If you like Atkins, have at it and enjoy - just be aware of what is happening in your body, and pay attention to it.

Originally posted by RedBalloon
Ehh! Wrong - it CAUSES kidney problems when your body and kidneys have to work harder to rid the body of the ketones that build up with the breakdown of protien.

You are confusing ketosis with ketoacidosis?
Many people who are against low-carb diets confuse the two. I don't know if that is the case here.

I quote the article: " 'Doctors are scared of ketosis,' says Richard Veech, an N.I.H. [National Institutes of Health]researcher who studied medicine at Harvard and then got his doctorate at Oxford University with the Nobel Laureate Hans Krebs. ''They're always worried about diabetic ketoacidosis. But ketosis is a normal physiologic state."

"Simply put, ketosis is evolution's answer to the thrifty gene. We may have evolved to efficiently store fat for times of famine, says Veech, but we also evolved ketosis to efficiently live off that fat when necessary. Rather than being poison, which is how the press often refers to ketones, they make the body run more efficiently and provide a backup fuel source for the brain. Veech calls ketones ''magic'' and has shown that both the heart and brain run 25 percent more efficiently on ketones than on blood sugar."

www.ketosis-ketoacidosis-difference.com...

Ketoacidosis is a high anion gap metabolic acidosis due to an excessive blood concentration of ketone bodies (keto-anions). Ketone bodies (acetoacetate, beta-hydroxybutyrate, acetone) are released into the blood from the liver when hepatic lipid metabolism has changed to a state of increased ketogenesis. A relative or absolute insulin deficiency is present in all cases. The major reactions starting from the production of acetoacetate from hepatic acetyl CoA are outlined in the box.

www.qldanaesthesia.com...

Originally posted by RedBalloon
All things in moderation... have your steak, just not every meal and don't be so gullible to do that Atkins bull and wreck your kidneys.

Do you have anything to back up the claim for kidney damage?

The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of dietary protein on kidney function. Creatinine levels were measured in 31 healthy subjects following an unrestricted protein diet (100 grams or more of protein per day) and compared with a group of 30 vegetarians on a long-term low-protein diet (30 grams or fewer of protein per day). Subjects who were on vegetarian diets did so for nine years or more. Subjects ranged in age from 30 to 80 years. Results revealed that there were no statistically significant differences in age, sex, weight and kidney function between the non-vegetarians and vegetarians.

atkins.com...

the science behind Atkins...Research summaries...Kidneys

Originally posted by FredT
Researchers in the Untied States have found that a diet rich in red meat, processed meat, refined grains etc. can increase your risk of developing diabetes by 50 percent over 14 year period than those who do not.

I'll bet the farm that it is not the red meat per se but the combination of highly refined carbs (like white bread and sugar), red meat and waaaaaay too many calories consumed by these folks.
Red meat is getting the bad press because of the company it is keeping with these patients.
The insulin roller coaster provided by this type of diet is a blueprint for disaster. Lotsa meat, lotsa french fries, lotsa dessert, lotsa chips and dip, lotsa beer, lotsa candy bars. *sheesh*

Researchers think that the chemical change that occurs when there items are cooked may be the cause.

Well, could it be they think wrong?

Ketosis is the presence in the blood of abnormally high levels of acidic substances called ketones. The normal body fuel is glucose. Ketones are produced when there isn�t enough glucose in the bloodstream, and fats have to be used. When fats are used excessively as fuels, they are eventually converted to ketones. The real danger in ketosis is that ketones are acidic, and high levels of ketones make the blood abnormally acid.

Normally the blood ketone levels are low, but in starvation, untreated diabetes and when the diet is very high in fats and low in carbohydrates, the levels rise. Ironically, in diabetes, the blood contains large quantities of sugar, but because of the shortage of insulin, this glucose can�t be used as fuel.

www.uiw.edu...
There are reasons why ketosis causes increased water loss (and therefore additional weight loss at the beginning of the diet).� First of all, diets very low in carbohydrates tend to promote a temporary sodium loss from the body.� Secondly, a diet high in protein necessitates the kidney to excrete increased urinary water.� Therefore, a low-carbohydrate diet causes increased water loss and can lead to dehydration.2� �Olsson and Saltin demonstrated this by taking biopsies of human muscle after providing subjects a low carbohydrate diet.� They repeated the biopsy after allowing them to maintain a carbohydrate liberal diet.� They calculated a net change of 500 gm of glycogen, which contains approximately 3 to 4 gm of water per gram.� The equivalent 1.5 to 2 liters of water agreed roughly with an observed 1 kg of weight gained during the time they were allowed a liberal carbohydrate intake.5

Additionally, the studies that Dr Atkins cites showing that higher fat diets caused greater weight loss lasted for only 4-8 days.� When others studied similar diets for a longer period of time (18 to 24 days) the increased weight loss was no longer observed.2� �Furthermore, all of these studies refer to a hypocaloric diet.� In other words the participants were on diets of only 1000 calories.� Dr Atkins mentions this yet still contends that the low carbohydrate, "metabolic-advantage" is the reason for the weight loss not the reduced calorie intake.�

...


When energy input exceeds energy output, the excess energy is stored as fat in adipose tissue.� The energy balance equation can be unbalanced in only three ways to cause body fat loss:

-Reduce calorie intake below the daily energy requirements.

-Maintain normal caloric intake and increase energy expenditure.

-Combine both methods by decreasing calorie intake and increasing daily energy� �
expenditure.

Consuming a diet high in fat and protein and low in carbohydrate does not accelerate weight loss.� In fact, fat is stored more efficiently in the body than carbohydrate when consumed in excess of calorie requirements.� Only about 3% of the calories in ingested lipid are required to convert excess calories to stored body fat, whereas 25% of the calories in carbohydrate "burns" in the conversion process.� It is easier for the body to synthesize fat from lipid than from an equivalent amount of carbohydrate when excess calories are consumed 3.

...

The Atkins' Diet may have other health implications.� Excessive protein intake may influence the development of osteoporosis.� An increase in protein intake causes an increase in the loss of calcium in the urine.� High protein intake has been proposed as a reason for the high incidence of osteoporosis in some populations despite moderate to high levels of calcium intake.4, 8� Long-term high protein intake may also affect kidney function.� Some studies have suggested that long-term excessive protein intake can speed the age-associated process of renal glomerular sclerosis.8� High uric acid production, which occurs as a result of elevated ketones may exacerbate gout.2

Footnotes on the above resource provide links to studies on long term health effects of Atkins and like diets. Any source promoting a diet for profit is questionable.

Hummm my family (meaning inmediate family) grow up with red meat and fish, I keep a red meat diet do to low carb, and diabetes has never been in my family, neither cancer in the females members, I wonder if these findings are for the generations now like my children and my grand children in the future.

Originally posted by RedBalloon

www.uiw.edu...
There are reasons why ketosis causes increased water loss (and therefore additional weight loss at the beginning of the diet).� First of all, diets very low in carbohydrates tend to promote a temporary sodium loss from the body.� Secondly, a diet high in protein necessitates the kidney to excrete increased urinary water.� Therefore, a low-carbohydrate diet causes increased water loss and can lead to dehydration.2� �Olsson and Saltin demonstrated this by taking biopsies of human muscle after providing subjects a low carbohydrate diet.� They repeated the biopsy after allowing them to maintain a carbohydrate liberal diet.� They calculated a net change of 500 gm of glycogen, which contains approximately 3 to 4 gm of water per gram.� The equivalent 1.5 to 2 liters of water agreed roughly with an observed 1 kg of weight gained during the time they were allowed a liberal carbohydrate intake.5

Additionally, the studies that Dr Atkins cites showing that higher fat diets caused greater weight loss lasted for only 4-8 days.� When others studied similar diets for a longer period of time (18 to 24 days) the increased weight loss was no longer observed.2� �Furthermore, all of these studies refer to a hypocaloric diet.� In other words the participants were on diets of only 1000 calories.� Dr Atkins mentions this yet still contends that the low carbohydrate, "metabolic-advantage" is the reason for the weight loss not the reduced calorie intake.�

Footnotes on the above resource provide links to studies on long term health effects of Atkins and like diets. Any source promoting a diet for profit is questionable.

Truly, this study reeks. No one iI know who followed Atkins or any other low carb diet consumed 1000 daily. I am sure my caloric intake was over 2000 calories daily.
Another fallacy of this study is the dehydration. Atkins and all low carb dieters I know of drink around a gallon of water per day.
I lost 25 pounds in 8 months and have kept it off for 18 months. It was slow but steady weight loss. I never did the induction that Atkins calls for.
After those first 8 months, I stalled on losing and had to watch my calories.

I am now in my maintenance mode. Approx 1500 calories and 100 net grams of carbs, mostly from fruit, veggies, nuts and whole grains. Healthy fats. Limited cheese--too much fat. Red meat, fish and poultry, eggs and pork.
Almost NO of the new crap called low carb foods. (Although, low carb ketchup has replaced ketchup in our household. ) In many cases, the food industry is looking fo market share when cashing in on the low carb phenomenon.
I am proof that the above cited study is biased and/or not duplicating a real-life low carb diet. I could get you testimonials from many successful and much-more-healthy low carbers. Many of these people are following this way of life with their doctor's knowledge and/or blessing.
There are several forums devoted to low carb lifestyles. Care for their links??????