The relationship of dietary omega-3 fatty acid and omega-6 to omega-3 ratio intake and likelihood of type 2 diabetes in a cross-sectional study.

Background: There is a belief that consuming a significant amount of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids can positively affect chronic diseases. However, the connection between these fatty acids and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) risk remains unclear. To explore this further, we conducted a study to investigate the relationship between dietary intake of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids (FA), as well as omega-6 to omega-3 ratio, and the odds of T2DM.

Methods: Our research involved a cross-sectional analysis of data from the Ravansar Non-Communicable Disease (RaNCD) cohort. We evaluated their dietary habits using a comprehensive 118-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). To determine the aforementioned association, we employed logistic regression analysis to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results: The prevalence of T2DM among 8744 qualified participants was 751 (8.6%). After considering all the possible factors that could affect the outcome, high dietary omega-3 intake was associated with a 58% lower likelihood of T2DM (OR: 0.42; 95% CI: 0.32, 0.56; P-trend: <0.001). In contrast, participants at the fourth quartile of the dietary omega 6 to omega 3 FA ratio had a higher odd of T2DM (OR: 1.42; 95%CI: 1.11, 1.84; P-trend: 0.01). Nevertheless, there was no significant connection between the highest and lowest quartile of dietary omega-6 intake (OR: 0.91; 95% CI: 0.71, 1.17; P-trend: 0.80).

Conclusion: According to the study, consuming omega-3 fatty acids through diet was linked with lower odds of type 2 diabetes. Conversely, an elevated omega-6 to omega-3 ratio was associated with a greater likelihood of T2DM.