Dietary Patterns Over Time and Microalbuminuria in Youth and Young Adults With Type 1 Diabetes: The SEARCH Nutrition Ancillary Study.

Objective: We assessed the association between diet quality and microalbuminuria in youth-onset type 1 diabetes using three indices: a modified Mediterranean diet score for children and adolescents (mKIDMED), the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), and the Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI).

Research Design And Methods: Youth and young adults from the SEARCH (SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth) Nutrition Ancillary Study (SNAS) diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2002-2008, who had repeated dietary assessments at baseline and follow-up visits and urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) measured at the outcome visit (2012-2015) ( = 461), were selected for study. Regression models estimated the association between each longitudinally assessed diet score and UACR and microalbuminuria (UACR ≥30 μg/mg).

Results: The cohort was 43% female, and at follow-up, mean age was 20 years, disease duration was 108 months, and 7% had microalbuminuria. Adherence to a higher-quality diet was low for the mKIDMED (mean 3.7 of a possible range of -3 to 12) and the DASH (mean 42 of 80) and better, for the HEI (mean 56.3 of 100). A borderline inverse association was observed between the HEI score and microalbuminuria after adjustment for caloric and protein intake and demographic and disease factors (odds ratio [OR] 0.83, = 0.07), which lost significance with further adjustment for HbA and systolic blood pressure (OR 0.86, = 0.19). Results were similar for continuous UACR. No significant associations were observed for diet quality characterized by the mKIDMED or DASH indices.

Conclusions: Greater adherence to the HEI may be beneficial for kidney health in youth and young adults with type 1 diabetes. Low adherence to the mKIDMED and DASH diets may explain the lack of association with microalbuminuria.