Association between dietary soy intake and risk of type 2 diabetes and genome-wide gene-dietary soy interaction analysis in a prospective cohort study

Abstract

IRR=0.53, 95% CI=0.36–0.78, P for trend=0.0007 in isoflavone; IRR=0.53, 95% CI=0.37–0.76, P for trend=0.0054 in soybeans and products), but not among men (IRR=1.14, 95% CI=0.75–1.72, P for trend=0.1472 in soy protein; IRR=1.09, 95% CI=0.71–1.67, P for trend=0.3781 in isoflavone; Although considerable attention has been paid to the potential benefits of dietary soy for preventing cardiometabolic disease, findings linking habitual consumption of these factors to type 2 diabetes are limited. This study aimed to evaluate the prospective association between the intake of dietary soy intake (related components and foods) and the incidence risk of type 2 diabetes and genome-wide gene-dietary soy interaction on type 2 diabetes risk in a community-based cohort of Korean adults aged ≥ 40 years, the Korean Multi-Rural Communities Cohort (MRCohort). A total of 8,269 participants who did not have type 2 diabetes were enrolled. Dietary intake was calculated using a food frequency questionnaire, and genotype data were generated using the Korea biobank array (KoreanChip). For 50,063 person-years of follow-up, 531 participants developed de novo type 2 diabetes. The significant inverse associations between dietary soy components and foods and type 2 diabetes were observed among women (incidence rate ratio, IRR=0.57, 95% CI=0.39–0.84, P for trend=0.0054 in soy protein; IRR=1.13, 95% CI=0.73–1.75, P for trend=0.1401 in soybeans and products, for the highest quartiles compared with the lowest quartiles). The significant linear trends were similar for both daidzein and genistein intake, and total legume consumption, and these associations remained robust in subgroups that were defined by demographic, lifestyle, other dietary factors and metabolic abnormality at baseline. There was statistically significant interaction between sex and dietary soy intake on type 2 diabetes risk (all P for interaction < 0.05). Further, we identified that a genetic variant rs5770274 interacted with dietary soy intake on the risk of type 2 diabetes in men, but no significant interaction was observed in women. Habitually higher intake of soy protein, isoflavones (daidzein, and genistein), soy-containing food, and total legume may be associated with lower risk of type 2 diabetes among women. However, there was no such association in men. Dietary soy intake may differently play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes between men and women, and higher intake of soy may be associated with a slightly increased risk of type 2 diabetes in men, due to interactions with genotype (rs5770274).