Associations between dietary patterns and kidney function indicators in type 2 diabetes

Abstract

Dietary patterns link to risks for chronic diseases. Few studies explore relationships between dietary patterns and kidney function in adult type 2 diabetes in Asian. Diabetic patients (n = 635) were selected from a cohort participating in a diabetic control study in Taiwan. Three dietary patterns, high fat (meats, processed meats, seafood, fatty foods, eggs), vegetable and fish (light- or dark- colored vegetables, pond and marine fish) and traditional Chinese-snack (soy/gluten products, rice, noodles, root vegetables, nuts), were generated using factor analysis. Urinary albumin to creatinine (ACR), creatinine and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) served as clinical indicators of kidney function. After adjusting for confounders, tertile scores of vegetable and fish dietary patterns correlated significantly (p-trend = 0.032) and dose-responsively with multivariable-adjusted means of decreased creatinine and marginally with increased eGFR (p- trend = 0.065). Traditional Chinese-snack dietary pattern was marginally associated with creatinine (p-trend = 0.065) and eGFR (p-trend = 0.064). High fat dietary patterns did not correlate with any kidney function indicator. Healthy diets such as frequent intake of fish and vegetable may be related to indicators of better kidney function in type 2 diabetes. Further prospective studies with larger sample sizes and use of sensitive indicators for studying early renal function decline are needed to confirm this association.