title: Meat consumption and its association with C-reactive protein and incident type 2 diabetes: the Rotterdam Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether intake of different types of meat is associated with circulating C-reactive protein (CRP) and risk of type 2 diabetes in a prospective cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Our analysis included 4,366 Dutch participants who did not have diabetes at baseline. During a median follow-up period of 12.4 years, 456 diabetes cases were confirmed. Intake of red meat, processed meat, and poultry was derived from a food frequency questionnaire, and their association with serum high-sensitivity CRP was examined cross-sectionally using linear regression models. Their association with risk of type 2 diabetes was examined using multivariate Cox proportional hazards model, including age, sex, family history of diabetes, and lifestyle and dietary factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An increment of 50 g of processed meat was associated with increased CRP concentration (β(processed meat) = 0.12; P = 0.01), whereas intake of red meat and poultry was not. When comparing the highest to the lowest category of meat intake with respect to diabetes incidence, the adjusted relative risks were as follows: for red meat (1.42 [95% CI 1.06-1.91]), for processed meat (1.87 [1.26-2.78]), and for poultry (0.95 [0.74-1.22]). Additional analysis showed that the associations were not affected appreciably after inclusion of CRP into the model. After adjustment for BMI, however, the association for red meat attenuated to 1.18 (0.88-1.59).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Intake of processed meat is associated with higher risk of type 2 diabetes. It appears unlikely that CRP mediates this association.
authors.affiliation: Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands. truus.vanwoudenbergh@wur.nl
authors.forename: Geertruida J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: van Woudenbergh
authors.forename: Anneleen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kuijsten
authors.forename: Basia
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tigcheler
authors.forename: Eric J G
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Sijbrands
authors.forename: Frank J A
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: van Rooij
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hofman
authors.forename: Jacqueline C M
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Witteman
authors.forename: Edith J M
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Feskens
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D004435:Eating; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat; D008461:Meat Products / Q000009:adverse effects; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D011200:Poultry; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D002097:C-Reactive Protein