Research

Mixed

Higher adherence to a plant-based dietary index (high plant foods, low animal foods) is associated with lower longitudinal insulin resistance, lower risk of prediabetes, and lower risk of type 2 diabetes.

Adopt a diet that emphasizes plant foods (vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, legumes) and reduces animal foods (meat, dairy, eggs). You do not need to be strictly vegan. Increasing your plant-based score by 10 units (e.g., more fruits/vegetables, less red meat) is associated with a 13-18% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes and lower insulin resistance. Ensure your plant foods are high quality (whole grains, not sweets).

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
a higher score on the plant-based dietary index was associated with lower insulin resistance (per 10 units higher score: b = -0.09; 95% CI: - 0.10; - 0.08), lower prediabetes risk (HR = 0.89; 95% CI: 0.81; 0.98), and lower T2D risk [HR = 0.82 (0.73; 0.92)].
Zhangling Chen et al. · European Journal of Epidemiology · 2018

Why this rating

Large prospective cohort (n=6798), long follow-up, adjusted for confounders, but observational design limits causal inference.

Source

Plant versus animal based diets and insulin resistance, prediabetes and type 2 diabetes: the Rotterdam Study

Zhangling Chen et al. · European Journal of Epidemiology · 2018

DOI 10.1007/s10654-018-0414-8

cohort · n=6798Cited 222×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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