Poor diets account for most newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes cases worldwide, a new analysis has found.
The study was published online April 17 in Nature Medicine.
The global burden of diet-attributable type 2 diabetes (T2D) is not well established. This risk assessment model estimated T2D incidence among adults contributions of 11 dietary factors in 184 countries in 1990 and 2018. In 2018, suboptimal intake of these dietary factors was estimated to be attributable to 14.1 million (95% uncertainty interval (UI), 13.8–14.4 million) incident T2D cases, representing 70.3% (68.8–71.8%) of new cases globally. Largest T2D burdens were attributable to insufficient whole-grain intake (26.1% (25.0–27.1%)), excess refined rice and wheat intake (24.6% (22.3–27.2%)) and excess processed meat intake (20.3% (18.3–23.5%)). Factors such as drinking too much fruit juice and not eating enough non starchy vegetables, nuts, or seeds, had less of an impact on new cases of the disease, the researchers determined.
Prior research has suggested that poor diet contributes to about 40% of type 2 diabetes cases worldwide, the researchers note.
The team attributes their finding of a 70% contribution to the new information in their analysis, such as the first-ever inclusion of refined grains, which was one of the top contributors to diabetes burden.
"Our study suggests poor carbohydrate quality is a leading driver of diet-attributable type 2 diabetes globally," said senior author Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, DrPh, MPH.
"These new findings reveal critical areas for national and global focus to improve nutrition and reduce devastating burdens of diabetes," he noted.
