Eating home-cooked meals may help keep diabetes away: Study
Sun and his team employed large prospective datasets in which US health professionals were surveyed, with rigorous collection of data on health indicators, including eating habits and occurrence of diabetes. The results were corrected for factors that could affect dining habits, including marital status. The study analysed 2.1 million years of follow-up data.
The findings show people who reported consuming 5-7 evening meals prepared at home during a week had 15% lower risk of diabetes than those who consumed two such meals or fewer. A smaller, but statistically significant, reduction was apparent for those who consumed more midday meals at home.
Moreover, less weight gain could partially explain the reported reduction in occurrence of type 2 diabetes in those often eating meals prepared at home. Well-established diabetes prevention strategies include behavioural interventions aimed at increasing exercise and dietary habits.