Food-Insecure Dietary Patterns Are Associated With Poor Longitudinal Glycemic Control in Diabetes: Results From the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether dietary patterns associated with food insecurity are associated with poor longitudinal glycemic control. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: In a prospective, population-based, longitudinal cohort study, we ascertained food security (Food Security Survey Module), dietary pattern (Healthy Eating Index–2005 [HEI 2005]), and hemoglobin A(1c) (HbA(1c)) in Puerto Rican adults aged 45–75 years with diabetes at baseline (2004–2009) and HbA(1c) at ∼2 years follow-up (2006–2012). We determined associations between food insecurity and dietary pattern and assessed whether those dietary patterns were associated with poorer HbA(1c) concentration over time, using multivariable-adjusted repeated subjects mixed-effects models. RESULTS: There were 584 participants with diabetes at baseline and 516 at follow-up. Food-insecure participants reported lower overall dietary quality and lower intake of fruit and vegetables. A food insecurity*HEI 2005 interaction (P < 0.001) suggested that better diet quality was more strongly associated with lower HbA(1c) in food-insecure than food-secure participants. In adjusted models, lower follow-up HbA(1c) was associated with greater HEI 2005 score (β = −0.01 HbA(1c) % per HEI 2005 point, per year, P = 0.003) and with subscores of total vegetables (β = −0.09, P = 0.04) and dark green and orange vegetables and legumes (β = −0.06, P = 0.048). Compared with the minimum total vegetable score, a participant with the maximum score showed relative improvements of HbA(1c) of 0.5% per year. CONCLUSIONS: Food insecurity was associated with lower overall dietary quality and lower consumption of plant-based foods, which was associated with poor longitudinal glycemic control.