Association Between the EAT-Lancet Diet Pattern and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: A Prospective Cohort Study

The EAT-Lancet Commission has promulgated a sustainable dietary guideline and recommended that it was designed to improve the human health and support environmental sustainability.

This research was designed to explore the association between this healthy diet pattern (EAT-Lancet diet pattern, EAT-LDP) and risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Between 2006 and 2010, a total of 59,849 participants from the UK Biobank without diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or cancers were included at baseline. The EAT-LDP score was constructed on the sum of 14 food components and then categorized into three tertiles. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were conducted to explore the association between EAT-LDP score and the risk of incident T2D. A mediation analysis was also implemented to disentangle the role of body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference in the relationship between EAT-LDP score and T2D.

During a median follow-up of 10 years, 2,461 incident T2D cases were recorded. In analyses that compared tertile 3 of the EAT-LDP score (highest) with tertile 1 (lowest), the hazard ratio (HR) for T2D was 0.81 (95% CI: 0.72-0.90) after adjusting for sociodemographic status and health-related factors. Participants who reported a one-point increase in the diet score were associated with a 6% decrease in risk of T2D (HR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.91-0.97). A significant indirect association was observed between the EAT-LDP score and T2D (β: 0.66, 95% CI: 0.65-0.67), indicating that 44% of the association of EAT-LDP score with T2D was mediated by BMI. Additionally, 40% of the association of EAT-LDP score with T2D was mediated by waist circumference was also observed.

Our findings indicate that a higher adherence to EAT-LDP contributes to lower risk of T2D. Further independent validation is needed to be conducted before applying the EAT-LDP to inform dietary guidelines.