Optimal dietary patterns for prevention of chronic disease

Multiple dietary patterns have been associated with different diseases; however, their comparability to improve overall health has yet to be determined. Here, in 205,776 healthcare professionals from three US cohorts followed for up to 32 years, we prospectively assessed two mechanism-based diets and six diets based on dietary recommendations in relation to major chronic disease, defined as a composite outcome of incident major cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes and cancer. We demonstrated that adherence to a healthy diet was generally associated with a lower risk of major chronic disease (hazard ratio (HR) comparing the 90th with the 10th percentile of dietary pattern scores = 0.68–0.84). Participants with low insulinemic (HR = 0.68, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.67, 0.70), low inflammatory (HR = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.69, 0.72) or diabetes risk-reducing (HR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.75, 0.79) diet had the largest risk reduction for incident major CVD, type 2 diabetes and cancer as a composite and individually. Similar findings were observed across gender and diverse ethnic groups. Our results suggest that dietary patterns associated with markers of hyperinsulinemia and inflammation and diabetes development may inform on future dietary guidelines for chronic disease prevention.