Adherence to a Mediterranean diet and risk of diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Open accessAbstract
Objective: Adherence to a Mediterranean diet is associated with significant improvements in health status. However, to date no systematic review and meta-analysis has summarized the effects of Mediterranean diet adherence on the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Design: Electronic searches for randomized controlled trials and cohort studies were performed in MEDLINE, SCOPUS, EMBASE and the Cochrane Trial Register until 2 April 2014. Pooled effects were calculated by an inverse-variance random-effect meta-analysis using the statistical software Review Manager 5·2 by the Cochrane Collaboration. Setting: Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials and cohort studies. Subjects: Eligibility criteria: 19+years of age. Results: One randomized controlled trial and eight prospective cohort studies (122 810 subjects) published between 2007 and 2014 were included for meta-analysis. For highest v . lowest adherence to the Mediterranean diet score, the pooled risk ratio was 0·81 (95 % CI 0·73, 0·90, P <0·0001, I 2 =55 %). Sensitivity analysis including only long-term studies confirmed the results of the primary analysis (pooled risk ratio=0·75; 95 % CI 0·68, 0·83, P <0·00001, I 2 =0 %). The Egger regression test provided no evidence of substantial publication bias ( P =0·254). Conclusions: Greater adherence to a Mediterranean diet is associated with a significant reduction in the risk of diabetes (19 %; moderate quality evidence). These results seem to be clinically relevant for public health, in particular for encouraging a Mediterranean-like dietary pattern for primary prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus.
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Previous meta-analyses showed that adherence to the Mediterranean diet could prevent type 2 diabetes development by 19-23%.
“Previous meta-analyses showed that adherence to MD could prevent type 2 diabetes development by 19–23% [49, 50].”
From Mediterranean Diet and Obesity-related Disorders: What is the Evidence? (2022) · cites this paper as [50]
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- Authors
- Schwingshackl, L., Missbach, B., König, J., & Hoffmann, G.
- Affiliations
- University of Vienna (AT)
- Corresponding author
- Schwingshackl, Lukas
- Venue
- Public Health Nutrition
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2014-08-13
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1292-1299
- ISSN
- 1368-9800 (ISSN-L)
- 1475-2727
- PMC
- PMC10273006
- OpenAlex
- W2115620006
- Cited by
- 340
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 39 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 40 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 28 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 3.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Public Health Nutrition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Dietary Effects on Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Diet and metabolism studies
- Keywords
- Mediterranean diet, dietary adherence, type 2 diabetes, diabetes risk, dietary habits, primary prevention, Mediterranean diet score
- MeSH terms
- Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Humans, Middle Aged, Patient Compliance, Risk, Cohort Studies, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Nutrition Policy, Evidence-Based Medicine, Diet, Mediterranean
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