Homemade meals may help reduce type 2 diabetes risk

Eating homemade meals instead of eating out could significantly lower the risk of type 2 diabetes, according to new research from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

That’s because restaurant food is often high in processed ingredients and unhealthy fats, and is linked with being overweight or obese—important triggers for type 2 diabetes.

Analyzing the lunch and dinner habits of 99,000 men and women for 36 years, researchers found that those who averaged two meals at home each day had a 13% lower risk of getting diabetes than those who had fewer than six homemade meals each week.

“The trend for eating commercially prepared meals in restaurants or as take-out has increased significantly over the last 50 years,” said Geng Zong, research fellow at Harvard Chan School and lead author of the study, in a November 9, 2015 Telegraph article. “At the same time, type 2 diabetes rates have also increased.”

The researchers didn’t provide a specific number of homemade meals people should eat each week, but “more would be better,” said Zong.