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Preparing meals at home can reduce risk for type 2 diabetes
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Frequently consuming meals prepared at home vs. dining out is associated with a lower risk for developing type 2 diabetes, at least in part due to less weight gain, according to two large prospective cohort studies.
Internationally, more people are dining out, and higher consumption of foods prepared outside of the home, especially fast foods, has been linked to lower dietary quality, excess weight gain and an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes, according to study background
Geng Zong, MD, research fellow in the department of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Heath, and colleagues analyzed data from 58,051 women enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study from 1986 to 2012 and 41,676 men who participated in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study from 1986 to 2010, who reported frequency of meals prepared at home (MPAH) for both midday and evening.
Researchers found that consuming MPAH more often was associated with a lower type 2 diabetes risk in men and women, with those eating 11 to 14 MPAH per week having a 14% lower risk for developing type 2 diabetes than those eating 0 to 6 MPAH per week (P < .001). Both men and women eating 11 to 14 MPAH per week had less weight gain when compared with those eating 0 to 6 MPAH per week. The associations with obesity and type 2 diabetes were stronger for evening MPAH than for midday in both cohorts.
“From a public health prospective, it is critical to facilitate people’s access to healthful, affordable foods and cultivate their confidence and skills for food preparation to encourage the practice of cooking at home,” researchers wrote. “Meanwhile, as needs for quick and convenient meals remain, more actions are needed to improve the diet quality of [meals prepared out of home], including fast-food chain restaurants, full-service restaurants, convenience stories, vending machines, and workplace and school cafeterias, so that the public’s need for convenience meals can be met while the diet quality of Americans is improved.”
Disclosure: Researchers report financial relationships with The Culinary Institute of America, Infinitus (China) Company Ltd., Campus for Health (Japan), Nutrition Development Group LLC and Panera Bread Company.
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