Macronutrient intake and type 2 diabetes risk in middle-aged Australian women. Results from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health

Objective: To investigate the association between macronutrient intake and type 2 diabetes risk in middle-aged Australian women. Design: A prospective cohort study, with 6 years (2002-2007) of follow up. Dietary intake was assessed with a validated FFQ. Relative risks with 95% confidence intervals were used to examine risk associations. Setting: Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, Australia. Subjects: Australian women (n 8370) from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health aged 45-50 years and free of type 2 diabetes at baseline. Results: After 6 years of follow-up, 311 women developed type 2 diabetes. After adjusting for sociodemographic, lifestyle and other dietary risk factors, MUFA, total n-3 PUFA, a-linolenic acid and total n-6 PUFA intakes were positively associated with the incidence of type 2 diabetes. The relative risks for type 2 diabetes for the highest compared with the lowest quintiles were 1.64 (95% CI 1.06, 2.54), P = 0.04 for MUFA; 1.55 (95% CI 1.03, 2.32), P = 0.01 for n-3 PUFA; 1.84 (95% CI 1.25, 2.71), P, 0.01 for alpha-linolenic acid; and 1.60 (95% CI 1.03, 2.48), P = 0.04 for n-6 PUFA. Other dietary macronutrients were not significantly associated with diabetes risk. Conclusions: The data indicate that consumption of MUFA, n-3 PUFA and n-6 PUFA may influence the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in women.