The Claim

In Korean adults, adherence to a high-quality plant-based diet, defined as being in the top 40% of the healthy plant-based diet index (hPDI), is the single most protective lifestyle factor against type 2 diabetes, as evidenced by the strongest attenuation of protective effect when excluded from the composite score (hazard ratio = 0.42 compared to 0.44 for the full score).

Source: The Association Between Composite Healthy Lifestyle Score and Type 2 Diabetes Risk in the Korean Population: The Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study

What the research says

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Supports
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These are independent scores, not a percentage. Higher-grade studies count more, so a single strong opposing study can outweigh several weaker ones.

Correlation
1 study reviewed
In plain English

People in Korea who eat a lot of healthy plant foods like vegetables, beans, and whole grains are less likely to get type 2 diabetes than others—and this way of eating is the biggest protective factor compared to other lifestyle choices.

See the scientific wording

In Korean adults, a high-quality plant-based diet, defined as being in the top 40% of the healthy plant-based diet index (hPDI), was the single most protective lifestyle factor against type 2 diabetes, with its exclusion from the composite score resulting in the strongest attenuation of the protective effect (HR=0.42 vs. 0.44 for the full score).

What the research says

1 study
  1. Study: The Association Between Composite Healthy Lifestyle Score and Type 2 Diabetes Risk in the Korean Population: The Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study

    The study shows that people who live healthily — including eating good plant foods — have much lower diabetes risk. But it doesn’t prove that eating plants is more important than the other healthy habits like exercise or not smoking.

Score breakdown, mechanism chain, raw evidence, ideal studies needed & 1 supporting studies

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