Adherence of Plant-Based Dietary Index in Odds of Diabetic Nephropathy in Women: A Case-Control Study.

Background & aims: Recent research has suggested that adherence to plant-based dietary index (PDI) may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and related complications like diabetic nephropathy (DN). Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the possible association of PDI with the odds of DN.

Methods: We enrolled 105 eligible women with DN and 105 controls without DN (30-65 years). A 147-item food frequency questionnaire was used to evaluate an overall PDI, healthy plant-based dietary index (hPDI), and unhealthful PDI. Biochemical variables and anthropometric measurements were assessed for all patients using predefined protocols.

Results: According to our final analyses, after controlling for potential confounders, participants with greater adherence to overall PDI (OR: 0.29; 95% CI: 0.15-0.56; P < .001) and hPDI (OR: 0.30; 95% CI: 0.15-0.56; P < .001) had 71% and 70% lower odds of DN compared to those with a low adherence, respectively. Conversely, subjects with a higher adherence to the unhealthful PDI had a positive association with increased odds of DN in the crude (OR = 5.00; 95% CI = 2.78-8.98; P < .001) and adjusted models (OR = 4.27; 95% CI = 2.24-8.14; P < .001), respectively.

Conclusion: The results of this study showed that greater adherence to overall PDI and hPDI was inversely associated with the odds of DN. However, further prospective studies are warranted to confirm these results.