Consumption of soy foods and isoflavones and risk of type 2 diabetes: a pooled analysis of three US cohorts

• Published in: European journal of clinical nutrition Vol. 70; no. 12; pp. 1381 - 1387
• Main Authors: Ding, M, Pan, A, Manson, J E, Willett, W C, Malik, V, Rosner, B, Giovannucci, E, Hu, F B, Sun, Q
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 01.12.2016
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Analysis; Cohort Studies; Confidence intervals; Daidzein; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetes mellitus (non-insulin dependent); Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - etiology; Diet - methods; Diet Surveys - methods; Eating; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Food; Food consumption; Genistein; Health aspects; Health risks; Humans; Isoflavones; Isoflavones - administration & dosage; Male; Medical personnel; Middle Aged; Nurses; Plant-based beverages; Prevention; Proportional Hazards Models; Questionnaires; Risk; Risk Factors; Soy Foods; Soy products; Soya bean milk; Soybean products; Soyfoods; Studies; Tofu; Type 2 diabetes; United States; Women; United States; United States > US
• ISSN: 0954-3007; 1476-5640
• DOI: 10.1038/ejcn.2016.117

Evidence regarding the consumption of soy foods and isoflavones in relation to risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) is scarce. Our study was to evaluate the association between soy food and isoflavone consumption and risk of T2D in US men and women. We followed 63 115 women in the Nurses' Health Study (1998-2012), 79 061 women in the Nurses' Health Study II (1999-2013) and 21 281 men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (2002-2010). Diet was assessed by a validated food-frequency questionnaire and was updated every 4 years. Self-reports of incident T2D were confirmed by a validated supplementary questionnaire. During 1 966 321 person-years of follow-up, 9185 incident T2D cases were documented. After multivariate adjustment for covariates, consumption of soy foods (tofu and soy milk) was not associated with a lower T2D risk. Compared with non-consumers of soy foods, the hazard ratio (HR) was 1.00 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.93, 1.07) for <1 serving/week and 0.93 (95% CI: 0.83, 1.03) for ⩾1 serving/week of soy foods (P for trend=0.14). In contrast, intake of total isoflavones was inversely associated with T2D risk. Comparing extreme quintiles of isoflavones, the HR was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.83, 0.96; P for trend=0.009). Inverse associations were also found for consumption of major individual isoflavones, including daidzein and genistein, with risk of T2D. Intake of isoflavones was associated with a modestly lower T2D risk in US men and women who typically consumed low-to-moderate amounts of soy foods. These findings warrant replications in other populations with similar soy intake levels.