Research

Mixed

A healthy vegan diet increases methylation at the ABCG1 locus (potentially elevating Type 2 Diabetes risk) while simultaneously increasing methylation at the PHOSPHO1 locus (potentially reducing Type 2 Diabetes risk), creating a complex and opposing effect on T2D biomarkers.

A healthy vegan diet has complex effects on Type 2 Diabetes biomarkers, increasing methylation at one locus (potentially raising risk) and another (potentially lowering risk). This suggests that the net effect on T2D risk is not straightforward and requires further investigation.

ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
In our study, the vegan group displayed a noteworthy increase in cg06500161 methylation (delta beta value mean = 0.0105, p = 0.0093, see Figure 4A), indicating a potentially elevated T2D risk. Concurrently, an increase in cg02650017 methylation (delta beta value mean = 0.0079, p = 0.011, see Figure 4B) suggests a decreased T2D risk for the vegan cohort. This dichotomy in methylation changes for the two loci within the vegan group underscores a complex relationship between diet and T2D biomarkers.
Varun B. Dwaraka et al. · medRxiv · 2023

Why this rating

Randomized controlled trial with paired twins, but the finding is specific to two loci and the net effect on T2D risk is unclear.

Source

Unveiling the Epigenetic Impact of Vegan vs. Omnivorous Diets on Aging: Insights from the Twins Nutrition Study (TwiNS)

Varun B. Dwaraka et al. · medRxiv · 2023

DOI 10.1101/2023.12.26.23300543

preprint · n=42Cited 7×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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