Physical Wellness

Home Cooking May Reduce The Risk Of Getting Type 2 Diabetes

By Jenn Loro | Update Date: Nov 11, 2015 12:30 PM EST

Recent studies further reinforced the classic idea that home cooking is the best way to stay healthy. Aside from being assured of having fresh and healthy meals, people who eat home cooked meals are said to have a lower risk of being obese and getting Type 2 diabetes.

According to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health via Tech Times, two home cooked meals in one day per week reduces the risk of getting Type 2 diabetes for 13 percent compared to participants who prepare their own meals six times a week or less.

Researchers limited their study of the lunch and dinner meals among records of approximately 58,000 women (Nurses' Health Study) and 41,000 men (Health Professionals Follow-up Study) participants.

The chosen participants are initially recorded as having no cardiovascular disease, diabetes or cancer. Their diets were then recorded for almost 26 years from 1986 to 2012.

Researchers, further, related their findings to obesity saying that more home cooked meals may lower the risk of the individual to become overweight, CBS News said.

"There is growing trend of eating meals prepared out-of-home in many countries. Here in the United States, energy intake from out-of-home meals has increased from less than 10 percent in the mid-60s to over 30 percent in 2005-2008, and average time spent on cooking has decreased by one third," lead author Geng Zong, a research fellow at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston said.

The study, however, cannot establish a direct cause-and-effect relationship with home cooked meals and Type 2 diabetes but rather a strong link based on the results.

Zong further said that the lowered risk for obesity in home cooked is attributed to the slightly lower intake of sugar-sweetened beverages that are present when one eats in a fast food.

People with Type 2 diabetes is said to have doubled since 1996. Diabetes and heart disease or stroke have been found to have a strong link since then and people with Type 2 diabetes are five times at risk to have heart disease as well, Daily Mail reported.

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