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High meat consumption is associated with type 1 diabetes mellitus in a Sardinian case–control study

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Abstract

The large worldwide variation in type 1 diabetes incidence and increasing incidence over time points toward important environmental risk factors. Among them, nutrition plays an important role. The objective was to investigate the relationship between type 1 diabetes and nutritional factors in pregnancy and early in life. We carried out, using semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires, a retrospective case–control study in 298 children of 0–15 years old, 145 of which were affected by type 1 diabetes. The diet of all children and of their mothers during pregnancy and lactation was assessed. In children, a statistically significant dose–response association between type 1 diabetes and the amount of meat consumption was found while no other nutritional factors were associated with the disease. High meat consumption seems to be an important early in life cofactor for type 1 diabetes development, although these findings need to be confirmed in wider prospective follow-up studies.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grant from Fondazione Banco Di Sardegna Prot. 562/2011.1052.

Conflict of interest

All authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit of Oncology and Molecular Pathology, Department of Toxicology, University of Cagliari, Via Porcell 4, 09124, Cagliari, Italy

    Sandro Muntoni, Roberto Mereu & Luigi Atzori

  2. Centre for Metabolic Diseases and Atherosclerosis, The ME.DI.CO. Association, Cagliari, Italy

    Sandro Muntoni, Sabrina Galassi, Stefania Corda & Sergio Muntoni

  3. Department of Public Health, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy

    Alessandra Mereu & Paolo Contu

  4. Division of Paediatrics, S. Michele Hospital, Cagliari, Italy

    Paola Frongia, Efisio Angius & Paolo Pusceddu

  5. Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy

    Francesco Cucca

  6. Department of Biomedical Science and Biotechnologies, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy

    Mauro Congia

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  1. Sandro Muntoni
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  2. Roberto Mereu
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  3. Luigi Atzori
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  13. Sergio Muntoni
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Correspondence to Sandro Muntoni.

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Communicated by Antonio Secchi.

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Muntoni, S., Mereu, R., Atzori, L. et al. High meat consumption is associated with type 1 diabetes mellitus in a Sardinian case–control study. Acta Diabetol 50, 713–719 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00592-012-0385-2

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