London: People who consume a diet rich in animal products such as meat and cheese are at an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, a new French study has warned. Scientists from the Center for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health, INSERM in Paris and colleagues studied more than 60,000 women and found that higher overall acidity of the diet, regardless of the individual foods making up that diet, ups the risk of type 2 diabetes. A western diet rich in animal products and other acidogenic foods can induce an acid load that is not compensated for by fruit and vegetables; this can cause chronic metabolic acidosis and lead to metabolic complications, researchers said.

Increasing acidosis can also reduce the ability of insulin to bind at appropriate receptors in the body, and reduce insulin sensitivity. With this in mind, the authors decided to analyse whether increased acidosis caused by dietary acid loads increased the risk of type 2 diabetes. A total of 66,485 women from the E3N study (the French Centre of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition, an ongoing epidemiological study) were followed for new diabetes cases over 14 years. Their dietary acid load was calculated from their potential renal acid load (PRAL) and their net endogenous acid production (NEAP) scores, both standard techniques for assessing dietary acid consumption from nutrient intake.

During follow-up, 1,372 new cases of incident type 2 diabetes occurred. In the overall population, those in the top 25 per cent (quartile) for PRAL had a 56 per cent increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared with the bottom quartile. Women of normal weight (BMI of 25 and under) had the highest increased risk (96 per cent for top quartile versus bottom) while overweight women (BMI 25 and over) had only a 28 per cent increased risk (top quartile versus bottom). NEAP scores showed a similar increased risk for higher acid load. "A diet rich in animal protein may favour net acid intake, while most fruits and vegetables form alkaline precursors that neutralise the acidity," the study authors said in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD).