By Miriam E. Tucker
Source Medscape
TOPLINE:
Greater adherence to a plant-based dietary pattern was associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D) among middle-aged US adults. Greater intake of healthful plant foods, rather than lower intake of non-red meat animal foods, was the main factor underlying the inverse associations.
METHODOLOGY:
- The study population was 11,965 adults aged 45-64 years from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study who didn’t have diabetes at baseline and who completed food-frequency questionnaires.
- Plant-based diet adherence was classified overall with the plant-based diet index (PDI) and also with higher healthful PDI (hPDI) and higher unhealthful PDI (uPDI) indexes.
TAKEAWAY:
- Mean daily total plant and animal food intakes for the highest quintile (5) were 15.1 and 3.4 servings per day, respectively, whereas average consumption for the lowest quintile (1) was 9.9 and 5.8 servings per day, respectively.
- During a median 22 years’ follow-up, 35% (n = 4208) of the participants developed T2D.
- After controlling for age, sex, race center, energy intake, education, income, smoking, alcohol intake, physical activity, and margarine intake, those in PDI quintile 5 had a significantly lower risk of developing T2D than in quintile 1 (hazard ratio, 0.89; P = .01).
- As a continuous score, each 10-point higher PDI score was associated with a significant 6% lower risk for T2D (P = .01).
- Higher hPDI scores were also inversely associated with T2D risk (hazard ratio, 0.85 for quintiles 5 vs 1; P < .001), and (0.90 per each 10 units higher; P < .001).
- Higher uPDI scores were not significantly associated with diabetes risk, regardless of adjustments (P > .05).
Read more https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/can-plant-based-diet-lower-type-2-diabetes-risk-2024a10003bv