A lower risk of diabetes among consumers of “organic” products

Fewer certain cancers, now less diabetes: publication after publication, data from the “Nutrinet” cohort continue to suggest new health benefits linked to the consumption of organically grown products. Thanks to data generated by this vast cohort of nutritional epidemiology – one of the most important in the world – a French-American team estimates, in a study published on Monday, November 9 inInternational Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, that the largest consumers of “AB” labeled foods have a risk of type 2 diabetes (sometimes called “fatty diabetes”) reduced by more than a third, compared to those who consume less.

This is the first time that a prospective study, that is, one that follows a population over time, has shown such a link. The hypothesis considered most plausible by the authors to explain this is the greater presence of synthetic pesticide residues in conventional foods.

The study involved 33,256 cohort members: only those who answered a very detailed questionnaire about the nature of their consumption were included. “This allowed us to have a very precise estimate of the quantity of each type of product consumed: plant and animal products”,bio “ or not, etc. », Explains the epidemiologist Emmanuelle Kesse-Guyot (INRAE), the first author of this work.

The researchers divided those included into five groups, based on the proportion of “organic” foods they reported consuming. In the four-year follow-up of the cohort, just under 300 cases of diabetes occurred. The authors studied the distribution of these cases, adjusting their analysis for effects related to economic status, physical activity, body mass index, smoking and alcohol.

Risk reduced by 35%

All other things being equal, heavier organic consumers have a 35% reduced risk of contracting type 2 diabetes than non-consumers. These conclusions overlap with those of a cross-sectional analysis (examination of a population at a given time) of the same cohort, published in 2017 in the journal European Journal of Nutrition, which showed an increased risk of metabolic syndrome among cohort members who consumed less “organic” products.

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