Table 2.

The risk of type 2 diabetes across tertile categories of dietary L-arginine, dietary protein and L-arginine to protein ratio

	Hazard Ratio (95% CI)
	T1	T2	T3	P for trend*
L-arginine
Crude	Ref.	0.83 (0.55–1.26)	1.06 (0.71–1.56)	0.430
Model 1	Ref.	1.00 (0.65–1.54)	0.95 (0.62–1.45)	0.816
Model 2	Ref.	1.44 (0.84–2.46)	2.72 (1.21–6.08)	0.019
Model 3	Ref.	1.44 (0.84–2.47)	2.71 (1.20–6.09)	0.020
Total protein
Crude	Ref.	0.90 (0.60–1.35)	0.94 (0.63–1.40)	0.494
Model 1	Ref.	1.33 (0.83–2.12)	1.46 (0.94–2.27)	0.099
Model 2	Ref.	1.42 (0.84–2.39)	1.89 (0.99–3.60)	0.052
L-arginine to protein ratio
Crude	Ref.	1.07 (0.70–1.64)	1.45 (0.97–2.16)	0.145
Model 1	Ref.	1.02 (0.64–1.61)	1.28 (0.84–1.95)	0.242
Model 2	Ref.	0.93 (0.58–1.50)	1.22 (0.78–1.90)	0.371

Hazard ratio and 95% confidence interval; Cox regression models were used

Model 1: Adjusted for sex, age, smoking, diabetes risk score and physical activity

Model 2: additional adjustment for total energy intakes, dietary carbohydrate, fiber, fat and lysine

Model 3: additional adjustment for total protein intake

P for trend test was performed by considering each ordinal score variable as a continuous variable in the model