Key Summary
- A Korean study reported a link between greater meal variety and a lower risk of developing diabetes.
- The research tracked 16,666 adults aged 40 and older who took part in a national cohort study.
- Men with higher diet-diversity scores had a 44% lower diabetes risk than those with lower scores; the comparable figure for women was 27%.
- The study also found associations between variety within specific food groups and lower diabetes risk, including milk and dairy products, fruit, and vegetables, seaweed, and mushrooms.
Main Story
A new Korean study suggests that what people eat may matter not only in terms of quantity or individual food choices, but also in how many different kinds of foods they regularly include in their meals.
Researchers led by Kim Mi-kyung of Hanyang University’s College of Medicine analyzed data from 16,666 adults aged 40 and older who participated in the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study. The team followed men and women who did not have diabetes at the start of the survey period and examined whether their eating patterns were associated with later diabetes onset.
The study covered 6,162 men and 10,504 women. Over a median follow-up period of six years, 953 participants developed diabetes, including 413 men and 540 women. The findings were published in the latest issue of the British Journal of Nutrition.
To assess dietary variety, the researchers grouped foods into five categories based on Korean dietary guidelines: grains; meat, fish, eggs, legumes and nuts; vegetables, seaweed and mushrooms; fruit; and milk and dairy products. A point was awarded for each group consumed at least once a day in a standard serving amount, creating a “diet diversity score.”
Men with scores above 4 had a 44% lower risk of developing diabetes than men with scores of 3 or below. Among women, the corresponding risk reduction was 27%.
The study also looked beyond simple food-group counts and examined variation within the same food categories. In the milk and dairy group, participants with the widest range of intake had lower diabetes risk than those with the least variety, with reductions of 31% for men and 30% for women.
However, the research team said this should not be interpreted to mean that consuming more milk and dairy products is necessarily better for diabetes prevention, noting that overall intake of those foods was not high in the study population.
Additional associations were reported for other food groups as well. In men, greater fruit variety was linked to a 30% lower risk of diabetes. In women, greater variety in vegetables, seaweed and mushrooms was linked to a 27% lower risk.
The researchers said the pattern may reflect the combined effects of multiple nutrients and bioactive compounds found across different foods. Kim said the study indicates that overall dietary diversity is associated with the development of type 2 diabetes, while also stressing that simply having many kinds of food is not enough to make a diet healthy.
She added that it is desirable to consider both diversity and quality, including a range of fruits, vegetables, seaweed and mushrooms in the diet.
Background
The supplied article did not provide additional background beyond the study design, sample size, follow-up period, and publication in a nutrition journal.
Items Requiring Further Verification
- The findings are presented as an association, not proof of cause and effect.
- The article cites a researcher’s interpretation that dietary diversity may matter because of combined nutritional and bioactive effects; this is a proposed explanation rather than a confirmed mechanism.
- The study’s guidance about milk and dairy should be read cautiously, since the article itself says the results do not mean higher intake of those foods prevents diabetes.