Healthy Tips from HealthyLife

Here’s more good news for seafood lovers. According to new research, people who regularly eat fish as their primary source of animal protein have lower blood-glucose concentrations and a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease compared to other people. And eating a lot of cured and/or red meats apparently has the opposite effect — it tends to raise the risk of diabetes and putting on weight.

Researchers from the University of Valencia set out to try to better understand the dietary patterns of older people in terms of fish and meat intake, and to determine whether there might be an association between the Mediterranean diet and factors related to cardiovascular and diabetes risk. They studied 340 adult men and 605 adult women between the ages of 55 and 80 years old; all of the participants had a high risk of cardiovascular disease.

The researchers found that those on a particularly high fish-to-meat ratio generally had lower glucose concentrations, while participants who ate significantly more red meat, especially cured meat, were more likely to put on weight and/or become obese. Excessive consumption of red meat was found to be associated with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and slightly shorter life-expectancy — mainly because of a higher-than-normal rate of heart disease or cancer. On the other hand, the researchers found that fish eaters appeared to live longer and have a lower risk of developing several diseases.

The authors of the study also found that men are more likely to be bigger red and cured meat eaters than women, while women tend to consume more white meat like turkey and chicken. The men and women in the study consumed similar amounts of fish.