Dietary fiber intake and risk of prediabetes in China: results from the TCLSIH Cohort Study.

Abstract

High dietary fiber intake has been associated with a lower risk of diabetes, but the association of dietary fiber with prediabetes is only speculative, especially in China, where the supportive data from prospective studies is lacking. This study aimed to examine the association between dietary fiber intake and risk of incident prediabetes among Chinese adults. We performed a prospective analysis in 18,085 participants of the TCLSIH cohort study who were free of diabetes, prediabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease at baseline. Dietary data were collected using a validated 100-item food frequency questionnaire. Prediabetes was defined based on the American Diabetes Association diagnostic criteria. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). During 63,175 person-years of follow-up, 4,139 cases of incident prediabetes occurred. The multivariable HRs (95% CIs) of prediabetes for the highest versus lowest quartiles were 0.85 (0.75, 0.98) (P for trend =0.02) for total dietary fiber, 0.84 (0.74, 0.95) (P for trend <0.01) for soluble fiber, and 1.05 (0.93, 1.19) (P for trend =0.38) for insoluble fiber. Fiber from fruits, but not from cereals, beans, and vegetables was inversely associated with prediabetes. Our results indicate that intakes of total dietary fiber, soluble fiber, and fiber derived from fruit sources were associated with a lower risk of prediabetes.