Research

Hormonal

High dietary glycemic load combined with low cereal fiber intake significantly increases the risk of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) in men, independent of other known risk factors.

To lower your risk of type 2 diabetes, focus on the quality of your carbohydrates rather than just cutting them out. Choose minimally refined grains (high cereal fiber) and avoid foods that spike blood sugar rapidly (high glycemic load). Combining high-fiber, low-glycemic foods is the most protective dietary strategy identified.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
The combination of a high glycemic load and a low cereal fiber intake further increased the risk of NIDDM (RR = 2.17, 95% CI, 1.04-4.54) when compared with a low glycemic load and high cereal fiber intake.
Jorge Salmerón et al. · Diabetes Care · 1997

Why this rating

Large prospective cohort (n=42,759), long follow-up (6 years), rigorous adjustment for confounders, but observational design limits causal certainty.

Source

Dietary Fiber, Glycemic Load, and Risk of NIDDM in Men

Jorge Salmerón et al. · Diabetes Care · 1997

DOI 10.2337/diacare.20.4.545

cohort · n=42759Cited 1,426×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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