May 2, 2024

New Study: 70% of Type 2 Diabetes Cases Linked to Food Choices

” Our research study suggests bad carbohydrate quality is a leading driver of diet-attributable type 2 diabetes worldwide, and with essential variation by country and with time,” states senior author Dariush Mozaffarian, Jean Mayer Professor of Nutrition and dean for policy at the Friedman School. “These new findings reveal important locations for national and global focus to enhance nutrition and decrease devastating burdens of diabetes.”
Type 2 diabetes is characterized by the resistance of the bodys cells to insulin. Of the 184 nations included in the Nature Medicine study, all saw an increase in type 2 diabetes cases between 1990 and 2018, representing a growing problem on people, households, and healthcare systems.
The research study team based their model on info from the Global Dietary Database, along with population demographics from multiple sources, international type 2 diabetes occurrence estimates, and data on how food choices affect individuals dealing with obesity and type 2 diabetes from multiple published documents.
The analysis exposed that bad diet plan is triggering a bigger percentage of total type 2 diabetes incidence in ladies versus males, in younger versus older adults, and in rural versus urban locals at the global level.
Regionally, Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia– especially in Poland and Russia, where diets tend to be abundant in red meat, processed meat, and potatoes– had the best number of type 2 diabetes cases connected to diet. Occurrence was also high in Latin America and the Caribbean, particularly in Colombia and Mexico, which was credited to high intake of sugary drinks, processed meat, and low intake of entire grains.
Regions, where diet plan had less of an influence on type 2 diabetes cases, consisted of South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa– though the largest boosts in type 2 diabetes due to poor diet in between 1990 and 2018 were observed in Sub-Saharan Africa. Of the 30 most populated nations studied, India, Nigeria, and Ethiopia had the least case of type 2 diabetes related to unhealthy eating.
” Left unchecked and with incidence only projected to increase, type 2 diabetes will continue to impact population health, financial efficiency, health care system capacity, and drive health inequities worldwide,” states first author Meghan OHearn. She conducted this research study while a Ph.D. prospect at the Friedman School and presently works as Impact Director for Food Systems for the Future, a non-profit institute and for-profit fund that enables ingenious food and farming business to measurably improve nutrition results for underserved and low-income communities. “These findings can help inform nutritional top priorities for clinicians, policymakers, and private sector actors as they motivate much healthier dietary choices that resolve this worldwide epidemic.”
Other current studies have approximated that 40% of type 2 diabetes cases internationally are associated to suboptimal diet, lower than the 70% reported in the Nature Medicine paper. The research team associates this to the brand-new info in their analysis, such as the first-ever inclusion of refined grains, which was one of the top factors to diabetes burdens; and upgraded information on dietary habits based upon national individual-level dietary studies, instead of agricultural quotes. The detectives also note that they presented the unpredictability of these brand-new quotes, which can continue to be fine-tuned as new data emerges.
Referral: “Incident type 2 diabetes attributable to suboptimal diet in 184 countries” by Meghan OHearn, Laura Lara-Castor, Frederick Cudhea, Victoria Miller, Julia Reedy, Peilin Shi, Jianyi Zhang, John B. Wong, Christina D. Economos, Renata Micha, Dariush Mozaffarian and Global Dietary Database, 17 April 2023, Nature Medicine.DOI: 10.1038/ s41591-023-02278-8.
The research study was moneyed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

” Left untreated and with incidence just predicted to increase, type 2 diabetes will continue to affect population health, financial efficiency, health care system capability, and drive health inequities worldwide,” states first author Meghan OHearn. “These findings can help notify dietary top priorities for clinicians, policymakers, and personal sector stars as they motivate much healthier dietary options that address this international epidemic.”
Other recent studies have actually approximated that 40% of type 2 diabetes cases worldwide are associated to suboptimal diet plan, lower than the 70% reported in the Nature Medicine paper. The research team associates this to the brand-new details in their analysis, such as the first-ever addition of refined grains, which was one of the top contributors to diabetes problems; and upgraded data on dietary habits based on nationwide individual-level dietary surveys, rather than agricultural estimates.

Researchers estimate 7 out of 10 cases of type 2 diabetes worldwide in 2018 linked to food choices. Credit: Alonso Nichols/Tufts University
A study has actually established a connection between a bad diet and 14 million cases of type 2 diabetes worldwide.
According to a research model developed by the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, bad diet was a substantial consider the development of over 14.1 million cases of type 2 diabetes in 184 countries in 2018. This accounts for over 70% of all new medical diagnoses worldwide.
The research study, released on April 17 in Nature Medicine, provides valuable insights into the dietary elements responsible for the concern of type 2 diabetes by region, based on an analysis of data from 1990 to 2018.
Of the 11 dietary factors considered, 3 had an outsized contribution to the increasing worldwide occurrence of type 2 diabetes: Insufficient intake of whole grains, excesses of refined rice and wheat, and the overconsumption of processed meat. Factors such as drinking excessive fruit juice and not consuming enough non-starchy vegetables, nuts, or seeds, had less of an effect on new cases of the disease.