TUESDAY, April 18, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Most cases of type 2 diabetes can be linked to making poor food choices, a new study finds.
Researchers from Tufts University in Boston linked poor diet to 14 million cases of type 2 diabetes — about 70% of new diagnoses globally — in 2018.
The biggest impact came from insufficient intake of whole grains, too much refined rice and wheat, and overconsumption of processed meat.
“Our study suggests poor carbohydrate quality is a leading driver of diet-attributable type 2 diabetes globally, and with important variation by nation and over time,” said study co-author Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a professor of nutrition and dean for policy at Tufts' School of Nutrition Science and Policy.
“These new findings reveal critical areas for national and global focus to improve nutrition and reduce devastating burdens of diabetes,” Mozaffarian said in a Tufts news release.
In type 2 diabetes, the body’s cells are resistant to insulin, a hormone necessary to convert the food you eat into fuel for the body.
The scientists looked at data from 1990 and 2018, using a research model of dietary intake in 184 countries that was developed at Tufts.
All of the countries studied saw an increase in type 2 diabetes cases during that time frame.
Poor diet is causing a larger proportion of total type 2 diabetes incidence in men versus women, in younger versus older adults and in urban versus rural residents, according to the research.
Other dietary factors, such as drinking too much fruit juice and not eating enough non-starchy vegetables, nuts or seeds, had less of an impact on new cases of the disease.
The investigators found the greatest number of type 2 diabetes cases linked to diet in Central Asia, and Central and Eastern Europe, especially in Poland and Russia where diets are rich in red and processed meats and potatoes.