Foods high in meat and fat appear to confer an increased risk for diabetes in all ethnic groups, whereas the effects of other dietary patterns vary by gender and ethnicity, say US researchers.

The incidence of diabetes is high among Japanese Americans and Native Hawaiians, but it cannot be explained by differences in body mass index (BMI). Gertraud Maskarinec (University of Hawaii, Honolulu) and co-workers therefore examined whether there were ethnic differences in the effects of three dietary patterns of fat and meat, vegetables, and fruit and milk on diabetes risk.

They studied the effects in the Hawaii component of the Multiethnic Cohort, which included 29,759 Caucasians, 35,244 Japanese Americans, and 10,509 Native Hawaiians.

The participants, all aged 45??”75 years, completed a baseline food frequency questionnaire. After 14 years of follow-up, 8587 patients with diabetes were identified through self-reports or health plan linkages. The risk for diabetes was assessed and stratified by age and adjusted for ethnicity, BMI, physical activity, education, total energy, smoking, alcohol intake, marital status, and hypertension.

The highest quintile for fat and meat intake was significantly associated with increased diabetes risk in men (hazard ratio [HR]=1.40) and women (HR=1.22) compared with the lowest quintile for intake. A high vegetable intake lowered diabetes risk in men (HR=0.86, p=0.004), but not in women, whereas a high intake of fruit and milk seemed to be more beneficial in women (HR=0.85) than in men (HR=0.92).

High fat and meat consumption was associated with elevated diabetes risk among all ethnic groups in men, and also, albeit to a lesser degree, in women. After stratification by BMI, the effects of the high meat and fat diet were primarily seen in overweight Caucasian and Japanese American men as well as in overweight Japanese American women.

“These findings indicate that the type of food consumed might contribute to diabetes risk beyond its effect on body weight,” say Maskarinec and co-workers in the journal Diabetes Care.

“The results for patterns rich in fruit, vegetables, and dairy products are ambiguous and need to be investigated in other cohorts.”

They conclude: “A better understanding of the dietary factors related to diabetes risk in Japanese Americans and Native Hawaiians will be useful in developing preventive strategies in these high-risk groups. Despite improvements in treatment, ultimately only prevention can reduce the disease burden.”

MedWire (www.medwire-news.md) is an independent clinical news service provided by Current Medicine Group, a trading division of Springer Healthcare Limited. © Springer Healthcare Ltd; 2010

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