medwireNews: Eating habits that do not too closely resemble the typical Western diet may be the most important protective factor in women at very high risk for type 2 diabetes, say researchers.
The 402 women studied had a D.E.S.I.R. diabetes risk score of 5, indicating an average absolute risk for type 2 diabetes of 32% over the following 9 years, and during follow-up 29% did indeed develop the condition.
But the rate was rather lower, at 20%, among women who had a low score for Western dietary patterns. Among those with a moderate or high score, having a diet rich in antioxidant foods such as coffee, tea, fruit, and vegetables was a protective factor, with 26% of this subgroup developing diabetes. Other factors, such as sleep duration and physical activity, had low discriminatory power.
Guy Fagherazzi (Paris-South Paris Saclay University, Villejuif, France) and co-researchers say their novel focus on factors associated with not developing diabetes “provides new perspectives from which to identify innovative factors to be included in prevention strategies.”
But they caution that their study, which is published in Diabetic Medicine, only assessed baseline factors and did not include men.
medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare. © 2018 Springer Healthcare part of the Springer Nature group