Dietary intake of choline and phosphatidylcholine and risk of type 2 diabetes in men: The Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study

PURPOSE: To investigate associations of total dietary choline intake and its major dietary form, phosphatidylcholine, with type 2 diabetes risk. METHODS: We included 2332 men aged 42–60 years at baseline in 1984–1989 from the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study in eastern Finland. Dietary intakes were assessed with 4-d food recording at baseline. Type 2 diabetes diagnosis was based on self-administered questionnaires, fasting and 2-h oral glucose tolerance test blood glucose measurements, or by record linkage to national health registries. Multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression models were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: During the mean 19.3-year follow-up, 432 men had type 2 diabetes diagnosis. After multivariable adjustments, those in the highest vs. lowest choline intake quartile had 25% (95% CI 2–43%) lower relative risk (P trend across quartiles = 0.02) and those in the highest vs. lowest phosphatidylcholine quartile had 41% (95% CI 22–55%) lower relative risk (P trend < 0.001) of type 2 diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: Higher choline intake, especially phosphatidylcholine, was associated with lower type 2 diabetes risk among men. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00394-020-02223-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.