ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION trans Fatty acid consumption, lifestyle and type 2 diabetes prevalence in a Spanish population Kyriaki Papantoniou • Montserrat Fı ´to • Maria-Isabel Covas • Daniel Mun ˜oz • Helmut Schro ¨der Received: 9 September 2009 / Accepted: 13 January 2010 / Published online: 4 February 2010 Ó Springer-Verlag 2010 Abstract Aim of the study To analyse the association of trans fatty acid (TFA) consumption with the risk of type 2 diabetes and lifestyle in a South European population. Methods Data were obtained from two population-based cross-sectional surveys conducted in Gerona (Spain) in 2000 and 2005. The present analysis included 7,774 free- living Spanish men and women aged 35–74 years. Diet was assessed by a validated food frequency questionnaire. Fasting blood sugar was measured and history of diabetes recorded. Results trans Fatty acid intake was relatively low in our study population (1.5 g d -1 for women and 1.8 g d -1 for men). Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed a null association between TFA intake and risk of type 2 diabetes in men and women. Total energy intake, alcohol con- sumption and the prevalence of smoking increased across quartiles of TFA intake. An inverse association was found between TFA intake and the consumption of vegetables, fruit, fish, legumes, white bread and olive oil in both genders (p \ 0.001) after adjusting for energy intake. In contrast, intakes of meat, sausages and pastry products increased across quartiles of TFA intake in both genders (p \ 0.001). Conclusions trans Fatty acid intake was not associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes. Higher TFA intake was associated with less healthy lifestyle and dietary habits in both sexes. Keywords trans Fatty acids Á Type 2 diabetes Á Lifestyle Á Diet Á Spanish population Introduction Type 2 diabetes accounts for 90–95% of diabetes cases worldwide [1]. The prevalence of this disease, estimated at 171 million cases worldwide in 2000 [2, 3], is expected to reach 300 million by 2025 [4]. For this reason, diabetes is considered to be an increasingly important global public health problem that threatens to reach pandemic levels. Insulin resistance, defined as an impaired tissue response to insulin, is central to the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes and is the underlying abnormality in most people that develop the disease [1, 5]. Evidence suggests that insulin resistance is affected by dietary fatty acids [5]. Replacing saturated fatty acids with unsaturated fatty acids improves insulin sensitivity [6]. However, data on the effect of trans fatty acids (TFA), i.e. unsaturated fatty acids with at least one double bond in the trans configuration, on insulin resistance have been inconsistent [5]. Although their effects on cardiovascular disease are well known [7–9], their role in the development of diabetes has not been widely studied. Furthermore, there is limited information on TFA consumption in European populations. For the REGICOR Investigators. A full roster of REGICOR investigators and collaborators can be found at http://www.REGICOR.org/regicor_inv. K. Papantoniou Environmental Epidemiology Research Centre, Biomedical Research Park, c/Doctor Aiguader 88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain M. Fı ´to Á M.-I. Covas Á D. Mun ˜oz Á H. Schro ¨der (&) Cardiovascular Risk and Nutrition Research Group, Municipal Institute for Medical Research, Hospital de Mar, Biomedical Research Park, Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition Research Network, c/Doctor Aiguader 88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain e-mail: hschroeder@imim.es 123 Eur J Nutr (2010) 49:357–364 DOI 10.1007/s00394-010-0093-z