New studies from Boston’s Tufts University show that poor eating habits are the primary cause of type 2 diabetes. The study found that poor eating was a factor in approximately 14 million new cases of type 2 diabetes.

Researchers utilised a study model of dietary intake in 184 countries to analyse data from 1990 to 2018. They discovered that a lack of whole grains, an excess of refined rice and wheat, and an overabundance of processed meat were the major dietary risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes over the world.

The study indicated that poor diet was responsible for a greater proportion of the total incidence of type 2 diabetes in men than in women, in younger individuals than in older adults, and in city dwellers than in rural dwellers.

Dietary factors are a major contributor to the high prevalence of type 2 diabetes in Central Asia and Central and Eastern Europe, especially in Poland and Russia. Red and processed meats, as well as potatoes, are particularly popular in these areas.

Also, people who consume a lot of processed meat and drink a lot of sugary beverages, such those in Colombia and Mexico, had higher rates.

The results showed that in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, poor diet had less of an effect on the prevalence of type 2 diabetes. Between 1990 and 2018, researchers found the greatest dietary-related increases in diabetes prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa.

Out of the 30 most populated countries, India, Nigeria, and Ethiopia had the lowest incidences of type 2 diabetes attributable to poor diet.

According to the study authors, the new data highlight key areas for national and global concentration in order to enhance nutrition and lessen the catastrophic costs of diabetes.

To combat this worldwide epidemic, the researchers anticipate that their study may aid in setting nutritional priorities for clinicians, politicians, and commercial sector actors.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation underwrote the research that appeared in Nature Medicine.