Dietary Components in the Pathogenesis and Prevention of Type 1 Diabetes in Children.

BACKGROUND: Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a disease closely linked to nutrition and modifications in various dietary components have been part of the effort to prevent or slow the progression of the disease even before the discovery of insulin.

SUMMARY: The scientific focus in the prevention or progression modification of T1D is mostly centered on four dietary compounds and their modifications - gluten and its omission, vitamin D supplementation, omega-3 fatty acids supplementation, and decreasing of the amount of ingested carbohydrates. The aim of this narrative review was to provide an overview of nutritional interventions studied in children either as preventive methods or as modifiers in the early stages of T1D from autoantibody positive individuals to persons with newly diagnosed T1D.

KEY MESSAGES: Our review shows that dietary modifications in various dietary components might be useful but none of them seems to provide universal effects in T1D prevention or progression modification. More research is therefore needed with focus on promising modes of action of individual dietary components.