The investigators considered 11 dietary factors altogether but found three that mattered most. These include (1) eating too much-refined wheat or rice and (2) not getting enough whole grains. Finally, (3) consuming processed meat also contributes to a population’s risk of type 2 diabetes. Such diet-attributable diabetes is far more common in urban than rural settings. Perhaps the foods available in cities are more likely to be highly processed. The scientists note that no nation has experienced a decline in type 2 diabetes over the last 40 years. On the contrary, this condition more than quintupled from 1980 to 2020, from just over 100 million to 537 million individuals affected around the world