Dietary fibre intake and risk of prediabetes in China: results from the Tianjin Chronic Low-grade Systemic Inflammation and Health (TCLSIH) Cohort Study

High dietary fibre intake has been associated with a lower risk of diabetes, but the association of dietary fibre with prediabetes is only speculative, especially in China, where the supportive data from prospective studies are lacking. This study aimed to examine the association between dietary fibre intake and risk of incident prediabetes among Chinese adults. We performed a prospective analysis in 18 085 participants of the Tianjin Chronic Low-grade Systemic Inflammation and Health cohort study who were free of diabetes, prediabetes, cancer and CVD at baseline. Dietary data were collected using a validated 100-item FFQ. Prediabetes was defined based on the American Diabetes Association diagnostic criteria. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % CI. During 63 175 person-years of follow-up, 4139 cases of incident prediabetes occurred. The multivariable HR of prediabetes for the highest v. lowest quartiles were 0 center dot 85 (95 % CI 0 center dot 75, 0 center dot 98) (P for trend = 0 center dot 02) for total dietary fibre, 0 center dot 84 (95 % CI 0 center dot 74, 0 center dot 95) (P for trend < 0 center dot 01) for soluble fibre and 1 center dot 05 (95 % CI 0 center dot 93, 1 center dot 19) (P for trend = 0 center dot 38) for insoluble fibre. Fibre from fruits but not from cereals, beans and vegetables was inversely associated with prediabetes. Our results indicate that intakes of total dietary fibre, soluble fibre and fibre derived from fruit sources were associated with a lower risk of prediabetes.