Eating grilled meat may `up` diabetes risk

London - Eating grilled bacon, a sausage sandwich or a cooked breakfast can increase the chance of developing diabetes, researchers have warned.

Their study concluded that such cooking methods, which have long been hailed as the healthier alternative to fried food, could be just as bad for you.

Researchers at Mount Sinai University, in New York, have discovered that a compound found when food is cooked in dry heat can trigger significant weight gain, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

These key findings should inform how we understand and prevent the human epidemic of obesity and diabetes

Researchers have now found that grilling and roasting food creates a compound called methylglyoxal (MG) – a type of advanced glycation end product (AGE).

These AGEs have been found to lower the body’s protective mechanisms that control inflammation. And inflammation is known to trigger a host of chronic diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, cancer, arthritis and Alzheimer’s.
 
“These key findings should inform how we understand and prevent the human epidemic of obesity and diabetes,” the Daily Express quoted Professor Helen Vlassara as saying.

“For more than 30 years we have been studying the potential of eliminating harmful AGEs from the body – and now from food as one way to curb the diabetes epidemic. Our findings reflect the need for a dramatic departure from standard clinical recommendations, which should now include a reduction in the amount of dry heat and processed foods in the diet.”

Her team recommend different methods of cooking such as stewing, poaching or steaming instead of grilling.

This study has been published in the journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.