Dietary acid load and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus: A case–control study

Abstract

Aim: The present study aimed to investigate the association between dietary acid load and the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in Iranian adults. Methods: This was a case–control study including 125 newly diagnosed T2D patients as cases and 190 healthy individuals as controls. A 168-item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was applied to collect the participant's dietary intake information. Potential renal acid load (PRAL), net endogenous acid production (NEAP), protein/potassium ratio, animal protein/potassium ratio, and plant protein/potassium ratio were derived from the nutrient intake. Results: We found that higher PRAL and NEAP scores are positively associated with the chance of T2D in the unadjusted model. Such that, when multiple potential confounders were taken into account, participants in the highest tertile of PRAL (OR: 4.37; 95 CI: 1.35–14.18) and NEAP score (OR: 2.24; 95 CI: 1.01–7.03) had a greater risk of T2D. No significant association was found between other indices including total protein/potassium ratio, animal protein/potassium ratio, and plant protein/potassium ratio, and T2D risk. Conclusion: The present findings suggest that high dietary acid load could be associated with the risk of T2D disease. © 2022 European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism