Association Between Sweet Potato Consumption And Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus In Adults

ObjectiveSweet potato(Ipomoea batatas(L.)Lam.)is among the most nutritious subtropical and tropical vegetables.It is also long used in traditional medicine practices for type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM).Some animal studies and clinical trials suggests a possible role of sweet potato in glycaemic control.However,to data,there is no study to assess the effects of sweet potato consumption for T2 DM in adult population.Here,the aim of this study is to investigate the associations between sweet potato consumption and newly diagnosed T2 DM among Chinese adults.MethodsThis study is based on the structure of The Tianjin Chronic Low-grade Systemic Inflammation and Health(TCLSIH)Cohort Study.We selected the people who had received at least one routine annual physical examinations at the Health Management Centre of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital from 2013 to 2016.After description of the study protocol,each subject agreed to participate and signed the information consent form of the study,which was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Tianjin Medical University.According to inclusion and exclusions criteria,a total of 25,997 subjects were included in this study.Sweet potato consumption was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire and newly diagnosed T2 DM was defined according to the American Diabetes Association 2013 criteria.Other variables,which included sociodemographic characteristics information,physical examinations and blood biochemical tests,were obtained through questionnaire surveys and physical examination data.For analysis,the newly diagnosed T2 DM was used as dependent variables.Sweet potato consumption were classified into five categories(?4 times per week,2-3 times per week,one times per week,<one times per week and almost never eat)according to the distribution in the whole study population and used as independent variables.Differences between groups with and without T2 DM or categories of sweet potato consumption were examined using analysis of variance for continuous variables and Logistic regression analysis for proportional variables.We used multiple Logistic regression to examine the associations between sweet potato consumption and newly diagnosed T2 DM in different models.Odds ratios(ORs)and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals(95%CIs)were calculated.To evaluated effect mondification,we performed stratified analysis according to gender.Finally,we tested interactin between gender and sweet potato consumption.ResultsOf the 25,997 subjects,447(316 for males and 131 for females)were newly diagnosed with T2 DM.Multivariate adjusted analysis showed that the ORs(95%CIs)of newly diagnosed T2 DM for different frequency of sweet potato consumption were 1.00,0.84(0.64,1.12),0.87(0.65,1.17),0.68(0.48,0.97)and 0.97(0.61,1.53)in the whole study population;1.00,0.77(0.56,1.07),0.89(0.63,1.26),0.77(0.51,1.17)and 1.19(0.66,2.09)in males;1.00,1.05(0.60,1.90),0.84(0.46,1.55),0.54(0.28,1.06)and 0.64(0.28,1.42)in females,respectively.In short,for the whole study population,2-3 times per week of sweet potato consumption was associated with newly diagnosed T2 DM.However,no significant association was observed in both genders.ConclusionsThis large-scale study found that moderate intake of sweet potatoes(2-3 times per week)may help reduce the risk of developing T2 DM.Future studies are needed to clarify the role of sweet potato in the prevention and treatment of T2 DM,and explore the underlying mechanisms.