Research

Macro partitioning

Adherence to a Mediterranean diet is associated with lower risk of type 2 diabetes in white populations, but this association is not consistently observed in non-white ethnic groups (Native Hawaiians, Japanese Americans) when using standard MedDiet scores.

While the Mediterranean diet is beneficial for preventing type 2 diabetes in white populations, its effectiveness may vary in other ethnic groups. For Native Hawaiians and Japanese Americans, other dietary patterns (like DASH or alternate Healthy Eating Index) might be more predictive of diabetes risk. Focus on overall diet quality and culturally appropriate healthy foods rather than strict adherence to a specific named diet.

ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Higher adherence to MedDiet was related to a 13–28% lower risk of T2D in white participants but not in other ethnic groups (HR (95% CI): 0.90 (0.84, 0.95) white men; 0.95 (0.88, 1.03) Native Hawaiian men; 0.98 (0.93, 1.02) Japanese American men; 0.93 (0.86, 1.00) white women; 0.97 (0.90, 1.05) Native Hawaiian women; 1.00 (0.95, 1.05) Japanese American women).
Mercedes Sotos‐Prieto et al. · Nutrients · 2018

Why this rating

Observational study with stratified results; potential confounding by lifestyle factors.

Source

Mediterranean Diet and Cardiometabolic Diseases in Racial/Ethnic Minority Populations in the United States

Mercedes Sotos‐Prieto et al. · Nutrients · 2018

DOI 10.3390/nu10030352

narrative_reviewCited 37×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →