Starchy diets up T2D risk in women

High intake of starchy foods appears to aggravate the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in women, reports a recent Japan study.

The present large-scale, population-based cohort study drew from the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study and included 27,797 men and 36,880 women between the ages of 45 and 75 years; none had a history of diabetes or critical illness. Sugar (total sugar, fructose, and other sugar subtypes) and starch (percent of energy per day) intakes were assessed using a 147-item food frequency questionnaire. T2D was determined through self-reports.

Over 5 years of follow-up, T2D arose in 690 men and 500 women. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that when dividing women according to quartiles of starch intake, those in the highest vs lowest category saw a 50-percent increase in the likelihood of T2D (odds ratio [OR], 1.04–2.17).

A similar effect was reported for women in the second (OR, 1.58, 95 percent CI, 1.19–2.10) and third (OR, 1.42, 95 percent CI, 1.03–1.95) vs first quartiles. Starch had no such effect in men.

Moreover, in both sexes, regression analysis showed no link between quartiles of total sugar and total fructose intakes with T2D development.

However, spline curves showed that at extremely high intake levels, both total sugar (30 percent of energy per day: OR, 1.88, 95 percent CI, 1.07–3.31) and total fructose (14 percent of energy per day: OR, 1.87, 95 percent CI, 1.10–3.16) aggravated T2D risk.