In 89,953 French adults, the highest intake of a red-meat sugar lined up with a 63 percent higher diabetes rate

What the research found

Conference report (observational, not yet a journal paper). Leopold Fezeu of Université Sorbonne Paris Nord presented preliminary NutriNet-Santé results at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting in Milan. ScienceDaily carried the briefing on 18 Oct 2026. The team estimated intake of N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc), a sugar in beef and lamb that humans do not make, in 89,953 adults, mean age 42, 79 percent women, free of type 2 diabetes and cancer at entry. Over a median 7.2 years, 966 people developed type 2 diabetes. Versus the lowest fifth of meat-derived Neu5Gc, the highest fifth had a hazard ratio of 1.63 (95 percent CI 1.29 to 2.06), and the next fifth 1.41 (1.11 to 1.77), after age, sex, activity, diet quality, smoking, and illness. The link weakened and was no longer significant after also adjusting for how much red meat people ate. Dairy Neu5Gc was not tied to higher risk. Obesity was estimated to explain about 13 percent of the meat-Neu5Gc association. The authors say the figures could change. This does not show that the sugar itself causes diabetes. Not medical advice.

Evidence level: Human study. A study in people, but an association isn't proof of cause.

Read the original at Université Sorbonne Paris Nord / EASD 2026, Milan