New research being presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Madrid, Spain (9-13 September), shows that consuming fruits, oats, and rye during childhood may increase the risk of developing type 1 diabetes (T1D). In contrast, eating berries appears to be associated with a reduced risk of the condition.
Authors: S.M. Virtanen et al.
Background and aims: Prospective longitudinal evidence considering the entire childhood diet in relation to development of islet autoimmunity (IA), or type 1 diabetes is lacking. We studied the associations of food groups and their combinations with IA and type 1 diabetes risk.
Materials and methods: Children with genetic susceptibility to type 1 diabetes born in 1996-2004 were followed from birth up to 6 years of age in the Type 1 Diabetes Prediction and Prevention (DIPP) Study (n=5674). We analyzed the associations between food consumption and the risk of IA/type 1 diabetes using a Bayesian approach to joint models for multiple longitudinally observed foods and time-to-event data, adjusting for energy intake, sex, HLA genotype, and familial diabetes. Altogether 34 food groups covering the entire diet were included based on repeated 3-day food records at age 3 months to 6 years. The foods associated with the endpoint (P<.1) in one-food models were included in the preliminary multi-food model, from which the foods associated with the endpoint (P<.05) were selected to the final multi-food model. As endpoints we used islet cell antibodies (ICA) plus biochemical IA (n=247), multiple biochemical IA (n=206), and type 1 diabetes (n=94).
Results: In the final multi-food model for ICA plus biochemical IA, oats (hazard ratio (HR) 1.09, 95
Conclusion: The higher consumption of oats, gluten-containing cereals, and fruits was associated with increased and cruciferous vegetables with decreased risk of several type 1 diabetes related endpoints when considering all the foods in combination. Further studies need to confirm or deflate whether autoimmune process leading to type 1 diabetes can be modified by foods.
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