Dried Fruit Intake Linked to Lower Type 2 Diabetes Risk, claims study

Previous studies into the relationship between dried fruit consumption and the risk of type 2 diabetes have been inconclusive, and the causal effects remain unclear. To this end, the current study estimates the causal impact of dietary factors on health outcomes using Mendelian randomization with genetic variants. The approach limits most of the bias associated with conventional observational trans-sectional studies in terms of confounding variables and reverse causality.

Summary statistics from the genome-wide association study (GWAS) analyses were used as input for performing a two-sample bidirectional MR to investigate the potential causal association between T2D and dried fruit consumption. The primary method for analysis was by the inverse-variance weighted approach. As a validation method, MR-Egger and weighted median methods were employed. Cochrane's Q test, MR-Egger intercept test, and leave-one-out analysis were conducted for sensitivity analyses to check its robustness against bias and confounding. Funnel plots were plotted to assess publication bias.

Key Findings

• The IVW analysis indicated that dried fruit intake is associated with a significant reduction in T2D risk, with an odds ratio (OR) of 0.392 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.241–0.636, p-value = 0.0001).

• This suggests that higher consumption of dried fruit could lower the likelihood of developing T2D by approximately 60%.

• The weighted median method confirmed the results obtained from the IVW analysis, supporting the robustness of the findings.

• Both methods demonstrated a consistent protective effect of dried fruit intake against T2D.

• The sensitivity analyses, including Cochrane’s Q test and MR-Egger intercept test, showed that the results were not influenced by heterogeneity or horizontal pleiotropy. The leave-one-out analysis further validated the reliability of the MR results.

• The funnel plot illustrated a symmetrical distribution, indicating no significant publication bias affecting the study’s findings.

This study provides very strong evidence that dried fruit consumption is related to a reduced risk of T2D and thus can be a preventive measure by which dried fruits can be introduced to the diet. Since these results are strong, reasonable dried fruit consumption would already be applicable as a pragmatic means of primary diabetes prevention.

Reference:

Guan, J., Liu, T., Yang, K., & Chen, H. (2024). Dried fruit intake and lower risk of type 2 diabetes: a two-sample mendelian randomization study. Nutrition & Metabolism, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12986-024-00813-z