Association between dietary vitamin intake and mortality in US adults with diabetes: A prospective cohort study

Abstract Aims To explore the association of dietary vitamin intake from food and/or supplement with mortality in US adults with diabetes. Materials and Methods This prospective cohort study was conducted on 5418 US adults with diabetes from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2018. Vitamin intake from food and supplements was estimated via dietary recall. Sufficient intake from food or food + supplement was defined as ≥ estimated average requirement (EAR) and ≤ tolerable upper intake level (UL), insufficient intake, < EAR; and excess intake, > UL. Medium supplementary intake was classified as > median level and ≤75th percentile; low intake, ≤ median level; and high intake, >75th percentile, as reported by supplement users. Results A total of 1601 deaths occurred among the participants over a median follow‐up of 11.0 years. Cox regression analysis of the single‐vitamin model demonstrated that sufficient vitamin A and folate intake from food and food + supplement and medium vitamin A and folate intake from supplement; sufficient riboflavin, niacin, and vitamin B 6 intake from food and food + supplement; and sufficient thiamin and vitamin E intake from food + supplement were significantly associated with reduced all‐cause mortality (all p < 0.05). In the multivitamin model, sufficient vitamin A and folate intake from food and food + supplement, medium vitamin A and folate intake from the supplement, and sufficient niacin intake from food and food + supplement were inversely associated with mortality (all p < 0.05). Conclusions Vitamin A and folate intake from food or supplement and niacin intake from food were significantly associated with reduced mortality in US adults with diabetes.