Plasma alkylresorcinols, biomarkers of whole-grain wheat and rye intake, and risk of type 2 diabetes in Scandinavian men and women

• Published in: The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
• Main Authors: Biskup, Izabela, Kyrø, Cecilie, Marklund, Matti, Olsen, Anja, van Dam, Rob M, Tjønneland, Anne, Overvad, Kim, Lindahl, Bernt, Johansson, Ingegerd, Landberg, Rikard
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: alkylresorcinois; biomarker; nested case-control studies; type 2 diabetes; whole grains; Northern Sweden
• Online Access: https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/plasma-alkylresorcinols-biomarkers-of-wholegrain-wheat-and-rye-intake-and-risk-of-type-2-diabetes-in-scandinavian-men-and-women(3cc746da-c9ef-40e0-8e46-d3ef00b6a6ef).html; https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.116.133496

BACKGROUND: Studies that use dietary biomarkers to investigate the association between whole-grain intake and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D) are lacking. OBJECTIVE: We examined the association between plasma total alkylresorcinols and the alkylresorcinol C17:0-to-C21:0 ratio, biomarkers of whole-grain wheat and rye intake and relative whole-grain rye over whole-grain wheat intake, respectively, and the risk of T2D among Scandinavian men and women. DESIGN: A nested case-control study was established within the Northern Sweden Health and Disease Study and the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort. Alkylresorcinol concentrations and the ratios of C17:0 to C21:0 were determined in plasma samples from 931 case-control pairs. ORs for T2D were calculated for plasma total alkylresorcinol concentration or C17:0-to-C21:0 ratio in quartiles with the use of conditional logistic regression that was adjusted for potential confounders. Additional analyses with whole-grain wheat and rye intake estimated from food-frequency questionnaires (FFQs) as exposures were also performed. RESULTS: The plasma total alkylresorcinol concentration was not associated with T2D risk (OR: 1.34; 95% CI: 0.95, 1.88) for the highest compared with the lowest quartiles in multivariable adjusted models. However, the C17:0-to-C21:0 ratio was associated with a lower diabetes risk (OR: 0.54; 95% CI: 0.37, 0.78). Analyses with whole-grain intake estimated from FFQs yielded similar results. CONCLUSIONS: Total whole-grain wheat and rye intake, reflected by alkylresorcinols in plasma, was not associated with a lower risk of T2D in a population with high whole-grain intake. In contrast, the proportion of whole-grain rye to whole-grain wheat intake, indicated by the plasma C17:0-to-C21:0 ratio, was inversely associated with T2D. This suggests that whole-grain intake dominated by rye may be favorable for T2D prevention.