title: Legume and soy food intake and the incidence of type 2 diabetes in the Shanghai Women's Health Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It has been postulated that a diet high in legumes may be beneficial for the prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus (type 2 DM). However, data linking type 2 DM risk and legume intake are limited.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of the study was to examine the association between legume and soy food consumption and self-reported type 2 DM.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted in a population-based prospective cohort of middle-aged Chinese women. We followed 64,227 women with no history of type 2 DM, cancer, or cardiovascular disease at study recruitment for an average of 4.6 y. Participants completed in-person interviews that collected information on diabetes risk factors, including dietary intake and physical activity in adulthood. Anthropometric measurements were taken. Dietary intake was assessed with a validated food-frequency questionnaire at the baseline survey and at the first follow-up survey administered 2-3 y after study recruitment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed an inverse association between quintiles of total legume intake and 3 mutually exclusive legume groups (peanuts, soybeans, and other legumes) and type 2 DM incidence. The multivariate-adjusted relative risk of type 2 DM for the upper quintile compared with the lower quintile was 0.62 (95% CI: 0.51, 0.74) for total legumes and 0.53 (95% CI: 0.45, 0.62) for soybeans. The association between soy products (other than soy milk) and soy protein consumption (protein derived from soy beans and their products) with type 2 DM was not significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Consumption of legumes, soybeans in particular, was inversely associated with the risk type 2 DM.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Nashville, TN 37203-1738, USA.
authors.forename: Raquel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Villegas
authors.forename: Yu-Tang
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Gong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Hong-Lan
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Tom A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Elasy
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Xiao Ou
authors.initials: XO
authors.lastname: Shu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007887:Fabaceae; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D045730:Soy Foods; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016387:Women's Health