“New Study Shows Poor Diet Responsible for Up to 70% of Worldwide Type 2 Diabetes Cases in 2018, With up to 14.1 Million Cases Attributed to Diet Quality – Findings Highlight the Impact of White Rice, Processed Meat, and Lack of Whole Grains on Diabetes Risk, Particularly in Men, Younger People, and Urban Areas Across 184 Countries Over Nearly 30 Years – Published in Nature Medicine”.

2023-05-04 10:46:34

Data spanning nearly 30 years and 184 countries shows that poor diet may have been responsible for up to 14.1 million type 2 diabetes cases in 2018 — about 70 percent of new diagnoses worldwide.

The three factors most strongly associated with the occurrence of type 2 diabetes were not eating enough whole grains, eating too much white rice and flour, and eating too much processed meat. Other diets, such as fewer nuts or less starchy vegetables, had less of an impact.

Poor diet was more associated with the onset of diabetes in men compared to women. It also appeared to be more negative in younger people and in urban areas.

Most cases of diet-related type 2 diabetes have been observed in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, possibly due to the high consumption of red and processed meat. The numbers were also high in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“Our study suggests that poor carbohydrate quality is a major cause of diet-related type 2 diabetes worldwide, with significant variability across countries and over time,” said Prof. Dariush Mozaffarian, cardiologist and nutritionist at Tufts University in Massachusetts, who published the study with his team in the journal “Nature Medicine”.

In the last forty years, the number of people with diabetes worldwide has increased from around 100 million to over 500 million. Without exception, there was an increase in diabetes cases in the 184 countries. The researchers believe it is essential to counteract this with different approaches such as greater knowledge transfer and improved nutritional labeling on food.

Which: DOI 10.1038/s41591-023-02278-8