Eating home-prepared meals more frequently lowers diabetes risk

ORLANDO, Fla. — Participants in a prospective cohort study who consumed meals that had been prepared at home more frequently were at reduced risk for diabetes over 26 years of follow-up, researchers reported at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.

The study included data collected from 57,994 women enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study and 41,679 men enrolled in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study between 1986 and 2012. All participants were aged between 40 and 75 years; no participants had diabetes, CVD or cancer at baseline.

“The trend for eating commercially prepared meals in restaurants or as take-out in the United States has increased significantly over the last 50 years,” Geng Zong, PhD, a research fellow at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, said in a press release. “At the same time, type 2 diabetes rates have also increased.”

The frequency with which participants consumed home-prepared meals during lunch or dinner per week was evaluated at baseline, and participants also provided updates on their lifestyle behaviors and health status every 2 years for a total of 26 years of follow-up.

New-onset diabetes occurred in 8,959 patients over 2.3 million person-years of follow-up. Results from multivariate analyses indicated reduced risk for diabetes with more frequent consumption of home-prepared meals, with pooled HRs of 0.96 (95% CI, 0.9-1.01) for 7-8 home-prepared meals/week; 0.96 (95% CI, 0.87-1.06) for 9-10 home-prepared meals/week and 0.88 (95% CI, 0.83-0.94) for 11-14 home-prepared meals/week compared with 0-6 home-prepared meals/week (P <.001 for trend). Additional adjustment for BMI and consumption of sugar-sweetened soda attenuated these associations (HR = 0.95; 95% CI, 0.9-1.01 and HR = 0.94; 95% CI, 0.89-1, respectively).

The researchers also observed a modest association between home-prepared meal consumption and less weight gain within the first 8 years of follow-up. Women who consumed 11-14 home-prepared meals per week gained approximately 0.5 fewer pounds than those who consumed 0-6 home-prepared meals per week; among men, the difference was approximately 2.5 pounds.

During a presentation here, Zong noted that the observational nature of the study means that no causal relationship can be confirmed, and that there was no data available on the type or content of meals participants prepared at home. However, he said, based on the researchers’ findings and results from prior studies, more frequent consumption of home-prepared meals is warranted, particularly for families with children.

“Action is needed to improve the quality of diet from commercial sources, which should not only be quick, but also healthy,” he said in the presentation. “And, my personal advice: Even if a meal prepared at home is good ... keeping a balance between energy intake and energy expenditure remains essential for fitness. If your mother is really good at cooking, like mine, you need to be careful at Thanksgiving.” – by Adam Taliercio

Reference:

Zong G, et al. Abstract 17285. Presented at: American Heart Association Scientific Sessions; Nov. 7-11, 2015; Orlando, Fla.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.