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Diet quality affects type 2 diabetes risk
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Adults without diabetes who improve the quality of their diet are at lower risk for developing type 2 diabetes than those whose diet quality deteriorates, according to findings published in Diabetes Care.
Sylvia H. Ley, PhD, RD, research associate in the department of nutrition, and Frank B. Hu, MD, PhD, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues evaluated data from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), NHS II and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study on 124,607 adults without diabetes to determine diet-quality changes during a 4-year period and subsequent 4-year type 2 diabetes incidence.
The Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) was used to assess diet quality every 4 years to establish changes.
Overall, 9,361 participants developed type 2 diabetes during 2,093,416 person-years.
Baseline AHEI scores and physical activity levels were lower in participants with improved diet compared with those with worsening diet quality.
A higher risk for diabetes was found with a more than 10% decrease in AHEI score compared with participants who maintained stable diet quality (pooled HR = 1.34; 95% CI, 1.23-1.46), whereas a more than 10% increase in AHEI score was associated with a lower risk (pooled HR = 0.84; 95% CI, 0.78-0.9).
Lower risk for diabetes across baseline diet quality status and baseline BMI was found with greater improvement in diet quality.
Thirty-two percent of the association between AHEI changes (per 10% increase) and the risk for diabetes was explained by changes in body weight.
“Expanding from previous [randomized controlled trial] evidence that demonstrated that individually tailored dietary interventions can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes among those at high risk, we provide evidence that changing overall diet quality may have a significant impact on long-term diabetes risk,” the researchers wrote. “Further, our findings provide scientific evidence supporting the current public health recommendation, which is to adopt healthful dietary patterns for long-term type 2 diabetes prevention.” – by Amber Cox
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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