Abstract

Background: Studies that use dietary biomarkers to investigate the association between whole-grain intake and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D) are lacking.Objective: We examined the association between plasma total alkylresorcinols and the alkylresorcinol C17:0-to-C21:0 ratio, biomarkers of whole-grain wheat and rye intake and relative whole grain rye over whole-grain wheat intake, respectively, and the risk of T2D among Scandinavian men and women.Design: A nested case-control study was established within the Northern Sweden Health and Disease Study and the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort. Alkylresorcinol concentrations and the ratios of C17:0 to C21:0 were determined in plasma samples from 931 case-control pairs. ORs for T2D were calculated for plasma total alkylresorcinol concentration or C17:0-to-C21:0 ratio in quartiles with the use of conditional logistic regression that was adjusted for potential confounders. Additional analyses with whole-grain wheat and rye intake estimated from food-frequency questionnaires (FFQs) as exposures were also performed.Results: The plasma total alkylresorcinol concentration was not associated with T2D risk (OR: 1.34; 95% CI: 0.95, 1.88) for the highest compared with the lowest quartiles in multivariable adjusted models. However, the C17:0-to-C21:0 ratio was associated with a lower diabetes risk (OR: 0.54; 95% CI: 0.37, 0.78). Analyses with whole-grain intake estimated from FFQs yielded similar results.Conclusions: Total whole-grain wheat and rye intake, reflected by alkylresorcinols in plasma, was not associated with a lower risk of T2D in a population with high whole-grain intake. In contrast, the proportion of whole-grain rye to whole-grain wheat intake, indicated by the plasma C17:0-to-C21:0 ratio, was inversely associated with T2D. This suggests that whole-grain intake dominated by rye may be favorable for T2D prevention.

Keywords

type 2 diabetes; whole grains; biomarker; alkylresorcinols; nested case-control studies

Published in

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
2016, Volume: 104, number: 1, pages: 88-96
Publisher: AMER SOC NUTRITION-ASN

SLU Authors

• Biskup, Izabela

  • Department of Molecular Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • University of Wroclaw

• Landberg, Rikard

  • Department of Molecular Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Karolinska Institute

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages


UKÄ Subject classification

Nutrition and Dietetics
Food Science
Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.116.133496

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/80522