Researchers analyzed the diets of 38,094 Dutch people and followed them for 10 years. They found that those who ate the most meat were the ones most likely to develop diabetes (Diabetes Care, January 2010). We know that refined carbohydrates, such as sugar water and flour, increase risk for diabetes by causing high rises in blood sugar, leading to high insulin which can exhaust the pancreas and cause both type I and II diabetes. However, we need a different explanation for the association between eating meat and diabetes.

A recent review of the world's scientific literature shows that saturated fats, found in high concentrations in meat, is the most likely cause of the association between eating meat and diabetes. Before insulin can do its job of driving sugar from the bloodstream into cells, it must first attach to small hooks on each cell called insulin receptors. Saturated fats block insulin receptors to prevent insulin from driving sugar into cells, causing a high rise in blood sugar levels (Current Opinion in Lipidology, February 2010). On the other hand, monounsaturated fats, found in olives and many seeds, make insulin receptors more available for insulin to lower blood sugar levels.