Dietary Fiber Intake and Glycemic Index and Incidence of Diabetes in African-American and White Adults
The ARIC Study
- June Stevens, PHD1,
- Kyungmi Ahn, PHD2,
- Juhaeri, PHD3,
- Denise Houston, MS, RD2,
- Lyn Steffan, PHD4 and
- David Couper, PHD5
- 1Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
- 2Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
- 3Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
- 4Department of Epidemiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- 5Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Abstract
OBJECTIVE—To determine the association of dietary fiber and glycemic index with incident type 2 diabetes in African-Americans and whites.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—We studied 12,251 adults aged 45–64 years and free of diabetes at baseline (1987–1989). A total of 1,447 cases of diabetes were reported between baseline and 9 years of follow-up. Diabetes status was determined by fasting glucose level ≥126 mg/dl (7.0 mmol/l), nonfasting glucose level ≥200 mg/dl (11.1 mmol/l), self-report of physician diagnosis, or use of diabetes medication. Usual dietary intake over the previous year was obtained at baseline using a 66-item food-frequency questionnaire. Nutrients were energy-adjusted using the residuals method. Proportional hazard regression analysis was used to examine dietary fiber intake and glycemic index as predictors of type 2 diabetes in both ethnic groups.
RESULTS—After adjustment for age, BMI, education, smoking status, physical activity, sex, and field center, there were no statistically significant associations of intake of total dietary fiber, fruit fiber, legume fiber, glycemic index, or glycemic load with incident diabetes. The hazard ratio for the fifth compared with the first quintile of cereal fiber was 0.75 (95% CI 0.60–0.92) in whites and 0.86 (0.65–1.15) in African-Americans.
CONCLUSIONS—This finding supports a protective role for cereal fiber in the development of diabetes in whites. More studies are needed to determine the role of dietary fiber and glycemic index in diabetes in African-Americans.
Footnotes
-
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. June Stevens, CB 7461, Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7461. E-mail: june_stevens{at}unc.edu.
Received for publication 17 April 2002 and accepted in revised form 1 July 2002.
A table elsewhere in this issue shows conventional and Système International (SI) units and conversion factors for many substances.
- DIABETES CARE
