Eating organic foods may protect against type 2 diabetes

People who consume organically grown foods appear to have a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, as shown in a study.

For the study, researchers used data from the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort and included 41,286 participants between the age of 50 and 65 years. Consumption of organic foods such as vegetables, fruits, dairy products, eggs, meat, and cereal products was summarized into an organic food score, which was categorized as never, low, medium, and high consumption. Continuous intake of organic foods was also evaluated.

A total of 4,843 incident cases of type 2 diabetes mellitus were recorded during follow-up. Multivariable Cox regression models showed that organic food consumption had a linear association with a lower incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus for both women (hazard ratio [HR], 0.94, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.89–1.00) and men (HR, 0.95, 95 percent CI, 0.90–1.00).

Compared with nonconsumption, organic food consumption at any frequency showed a protective benefit for men (low intake: HR, 0.95, 95 percent CI, 0.85–1.05; medium intake: HR, 0.92, 95 percent CI, 0.83–1.03; high intake: HR, 0.89, 95 percent CI, 0.75–1.05) and women (medium intake: HR, 0.96, 95 percent CI, 0.84–1.10; high intake: HR, 0.88, 95 percent CI, 0.74–1.05). However, these estimates were not statistically significant.

Similar patterns of association were observed with consumption of the specific organic food groups and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus among women, but not among men.

Mores studies are needed to validate the findings.