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Diet quality improvements can lead to risk reduction in type 2 diabetes
SAN FRANCISCO — Improving one’s diet quality index score by 10 percentage points or more over the course of 4 years can reduce risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 10%, as compared to those people who make no notable changes, according to data presented at the American Diabetes Association’s 74th Scientific Sessions.
“We learned over the recent years that dietary patterns — looking at not just one nutrient or food item but overall quality of food intake — has some impact on diabetes prevention,” Sylvia Ley, PhD, a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health, said during a press conference. “When we looked at [diet index] scores, people who improved their scores by 10 percent points or more had an actual reduction in their incidence of diabetes 4 years later. People who worsened their scores by 10 percent points or more increased their risk. ... It has impact on both ends.”
Ley and colleagues used the Nurses’ Health Study (1986-2010), Nurses’ Health Study II (1991-2011), and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (1986-2010) to prospectively follow 148,479 participants who did not have diabetes at baseline. The quality of their diets was measured using the Alternate Healthy Eating Index score and the researchers simultaneously analyzed associations between changes in diet quality, physical activity, body weight and diabetes risk.
This study included 9,967 incident cases of type 2 diabetes over the course of 2,466,119 person-years of follow-up. A 10% decrease or more in the index score was associated with a greater risk of diabetes development (pooled adjusted HR=1.18; 95% CI, 1.08-1.30), but a 10% or more improvement was linked to a lower risk (HR=0.91; 95% CI, 0.84-0.99).
Ley explained that diets improved with increased intake of whole grains, fruits and vegetables and less sweetened beverages and red meats, but it did not seem to matter the quality of one’s diet at baseline. They stratified the group by poor, medium and high quality diets at baseline and those that improved by the 10 percentage points, no matter their baseline quality, showed a lowered risk of diabetes.
“In all these different starting points, people who improved their intake had improvement in their diabetes incidence. ... No matter where you start, improving your diet quality is helpful,” Ley said.
Watch a video on this presentation »
For More Information: Ley S. Abstract 74-OR. Presented at: American Diabetes Association’s 74th Scientific Sessions; June 13-17, 2014; San Francisco.
Disclosures: This research was funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease, part of the National Institutes of Health.