Dietary Fiber Intake and Type 2 Diabetes in Japanese Men and Women: The Japan Public Health Center-Based Prospective...

Total dietary fiber and cereal fiber intake have been reported to be associated with decreased risk of type 2 diabetes. However, evidence from Asia is limited and inconsistent. In addition, to our knowledge, no Japanese study has examined the association of dietary fiber intake from food sources.

We prospectively examined the association of dietary fiber and its source with type 2 diabetes risk among Japanese adults.

Participants were 27,798 men and 36,883 women aged 44-76 y who completed a food frequency questionnaire from 1995 to 1998 (baseline of the present study), had no history of diabetes, and returned a follow-up questionnaire 5 y later, when physician-diagnosed type 2 diabetes was self-reported. Odds ratios of the newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes according to dietary fiber intake were estimated by logistic regression.

During the 5-y period, 1190 cases of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes were identified. Total dietary fiber intake was not significantly associated with type 2 diabetes; the multivariable-adjusted odds ratio of type 2 diabetes for the highest compared with lowest quartile of total dietary fiber intake was 0.91 (95% confidence interval: 0.72, 1.15) (P-trend = 0.36). On analysis by food source, dietary fiber intake from any of cereals, legumes, vegetables, and fruits was not associated with type 2 diabetes, with corresponding values (95% confidence intervals of 0.95: 0.79, 1.14) for cereals, 0.96: 0.78, 1.19 for legumes, 1.00: 0.81, 1.23 for vegetables, and 1.12: 0.90, 1.39) for fruits.

Our findings suggest that dietary fiber intake has no association with the risk of type 2 diabetes among Japanese.