Published October 14, 2025
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Association between dietary niacin intake and diabetic retinopathy in a Catalonian population: a cross-sectional study
Authors/Creators
- 1. Inst Recerca St Pau IR St Pau, Grp Endocrinol Diabet & Nutr, Barcelona, Spain; Univ Autonoma Barcelona, Dept Med, Barcelona, Spain
- 2. Inst Recerca St Pau IR St Pau, Grp Endocrinol Diabet & Nutr, Barcelona, Spain; Fundacio Inst Univ Recerca Atencio Primaria Salut, Grup Diabet Atencio Primaria DAP Cat, Unitat Suport Recerca Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- 3. Inst Recerca St Pau IR St Pau, Grp Endocrinol Diabet & Nutr, Barcelona, Spain
- 4. Fundacio Inst Univ Recerca Atencio Primaria Salut, Grup Diabet Atencio Primaria DAP Cat, Unitat Suport Recerca Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- 5. Univ Barcelona, Dept Med, Barcelona, Spain; Hosp Clin Barcelona, Inst Invest Biomed August Pi & Suner, Dept Endocrinol & Nutr, Barcelona, Spain; Inst Salud Carlos III, Ctr Biomed Res Physiopathol Obes & Nutr CIBEROBN, Madrid, Spain
- 6. Univ Autonoma Barcelona, Dept Med, Barcelona, Spain; Inst Salud Carlos III, Ctr Biomed Res Diabet & Associated Metab Dis CIBER, Madrid, Spain; Univ Hosp Germans Trias & Pujol, Dept Endocrinol & Nutr, Badalona, Spain
- 7. Washington Univ, Dept Internal Med, Endocrinol Metab & Lipid Res Div, Sch Med, St Louis, MO USA
- 8. Univ Messina, Dept Clin & Expt Med, Messina, Italy
- 9. Univ Lleida, Dept Nursing & Physiotherapy, Lleida, Spain; Univ Lleida, Lleida Inst Biomed Res Dr Pifarre Fdn, IRBLleida, Lleida, Spain
- 10. Avantmed Ctr, Lleida, Spain
- 11. Univ Lleida, Lleida Inst Biomed Res Dr Pifarre Fdn, IRBLleida, Lleida, Spain; Univ Hosp Arnau de Vilanova, Dept Endocrinol & Nutr, Lleida, Spain
- 12. Inst Recerca St Pau IR St Pau, Grp Endocrinol Diabet & Nutr, Barcelona, Spain; Inst Salud Carlos III, Ctr Biomed Res Diabet & Associated Metab Dis CIBER, Madrid, Spain
- 13. Fundacio Inst Univ Recerca Atencio Primaria Salut, Grup Diabet Atencio Primaria DAP Cat, Unitat Suport Recerca Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Inst Salud Carlos III, Ctr Biomed Res Diabet & Associated Metab Dis CIBER, Madrid, Spain; Univ Lleida, Dept Nursing & Physiotherapy, Lleida, Spain; Univ Lleida, Lleida Inst Biomed Res Dr Pifarre Fdn, IRBLleida, Lleida, Spain
- 14. Inst Recerca St Pau IR St Pau, Grp Endocrinol Diabet & Nutr, Barcelona, Spain; Inst Salud Carlos III, Ctr Biomed Res Diabet & Associated Metab Dis CIBER, Madrid, Spain; Hosp Santa Creu & Sant Pau, Dept Endocrinol & Nutr, Barcelona, Spain; Univ Vic, Cent Univ Catalonia, Dept Med, Vic, Spain
Description
Background Accumulating evidence suggests that niacin interventions may have a beneficial role in preventing ophthalmological microangiopathic remodeling. This study aimed to assess the impact of niacin intake on the presence of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in two independent Mediterranean cohorts of individuals with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and type 2 diabetes (T2D).Methods Cross-sectional, population-based epidemiologic study. A total of 243 individuals with T1D, and 291 individuals with T2D. All participants underwent an eye examination. Dietary niacin intake was analyzed using a validated Spanish 101-items food frequency questionnaire consumption. The association between niacin intake and DR was assessed using a multivariate logistic regression, with potential non-linear associations further explored through restricted cubic spline regression. DR diagnostic was established via multifield stereoscopic retinal photography, in accordance with the international consensus on DR.Results DR was identified in 103 out of 243 individuals with T1D and 144 out of 291 with T2D. Dietary niacin intake did not differ within the study groups according to DR status. Multivariate logistic regression models also revealed no association between dietary niacin intake and DR. As previously described, the duration of diabetes for T1D and T2D, [OR (95%CI), 1.02 (1.01-1.03), and 1.02 (1.02-1.03), respectively] and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) [OR (95%CI), 1.16 (1.09-1.24), and 1.14 (1.09-1.18), respectively] were identified as the main determinant variables for DR in both groups.Conclusions We found that dietary niacin intake was not associated with the presence of RD in subjects with either T1D or T2D. Further research is needed to better understand the potential role of niacin in the development or prevention of DR.
Copyright © 2025 Torres-Méndez, Rojo-López, Antentas, Vendrell, Ortega, Alonso, Castelblanco, Muscarà, Rubinat, Alcubierre, Hernández, Rossell, Granado-Casas, Mauricio and Julve.
Notes
The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this article. This work was funded by Spanish Ministry of Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Madrid, Spain) grants PI21/00770 and PI24/00156 (to JJ), PI15/0625, PI18/0328, and PI12/0183 (to DM), FEDER "Una manera de hacer Europa". JJ received financial support from Agencia Estatal de Investigacion (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and European Union "NextGeneration EU";/PRTR) within the action "Consolidacion Investigadora 2022" (CNS2022-135559). MR-L holds a predoctoral grant SLT017/20/000107 from Pla Estrategic de Recerca i Innovacio en Salut (PERIS) 2021-2024 of Generalitat de Catalunya. Additionally, this study received support from Center for Biomedical Research on Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Diseases (CIBERDEM) (PI: Didac Mauricio, CB15/00071) and CIBER of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN) (PI: Emilio Ortega, CB06/03/0017), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, Spain. Research Group, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Nutrition, Agencia de Gestion de Ayudas Universitarias y de Investigacion (AGAUR) (2021 SGR 01211), Institut de Recerca Sant Pau and Biomedical Research Institute's Dr. Pifarre Foundation from Lleida (IRBLleida) are accredited by the Generalitat de Catalunya as Centre de Recerca de Catalunya (CERCA). The group also belongs to the XARTEC Salut network and is part of the coordinated consolidated group AGAUR (2021 SGR 00857, and 2021 SGR 01211). MR-L, DM, JR, and JJ are members of the Quality Research Group 2017-SGR-1149 from Generalitat de Catalunya.