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. 2021 Sep;12(9):1569-1576.
doi: 10.1111/jdi.13522. Epub 2021 Mar 2.

Association of plant-based diet and type 2 diabetes mellitus in Chinese rural adults: The Henan Rural Cohort Study

Xiu Yang  1 , Yuqian Li  2 , Chongjian Wang  1 , Zhenxing Mao  1 , Yu Chen  3 , Pengfei Ren  3 , Mengying Fan  1 , Songyang Cui  1 , Kailin Niu  1 , Ruohua Gu  1 , Linlin Li  1
Affiliations

Association of plant-based diet and type 2 diabetes mellitus in Chinese rural adults: The Henan Rural Cohort Study

Xiu Yang et al. J Diabetes Investig. 2021 Sep.

Abstract

Aims/introduction: Studies have found that a plant-based diet was associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, but evidence is scarce on such associations in China. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a plant-based diet is related to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes among Chinese adults.

Materials and methods: A total of 37,985 participants were enrolled from the Henan Rural Cohort Study. An overall plant-based diet index (PDI) was created by assigning positive and reverse scores to 12 commonly consumed food groups. Multivariate logistic regression models and restricted cubic spline analysis were performed to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI).

Results: After multivariable adjustment, the risk of type 2 diabetes was inversely associated with the PDI (extreme-quartile OR = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.79-0.98; P = 0.027), the risk associated with a 1 standard deviation (SD) increase in PDI was 4% lower (95% CI, 0.93-1.00; P trend = 0.043) for type 2 diabetes. Moreover, the odds of type 2 diabetes was decreased with an increment of PDI after fitting restricted cubic splines (P trend < 0.01).

Conclusions: Among Chinese populations, diets higher in plant foods and lower in animal foods were associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes.

Keywords: Plant-based diet; Rural population; Type 2 diabetes.

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Conflict of interest statement

No conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the risk of type 2 diabetes along with the change of plant‐based diet index from restricted cubic splines regression model. (a, b, and c indicate model 1, model 2, and model 3, respectively). CI, confidence interval; OR, odds ratio; T2D, type 2 diabetes.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Adjusted odds ratios for type 2 diabetes comparing extreme quartiles of the plant‐based diet index, stratified by selected characteristics. CI, confidence interval; P, probability; OR, odds ratio; RMB, renminbi; T2D, type 2 diabetes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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