While some people may be predisposed to type 2 diabetes, a new study has found a healthy diet can reduce your risk of developing the condition regardless of your family history, age or race.

The study from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts found people who improved their diet had a lower risk of type 2 diabetes than people who made no changes to their diet.

The study used data on 148,848 people who did not have diabetes. The researchers measured changes in the participants’ diet over the course of four years – 9,134 participants developed type 2 diabetes.

The participants who had a poorer diet increased their risk of type 2 diabetes by 27 per cent, those who had a better diet decreased their risk of developing the condition by 18 per cent. The findings found that improved diet reduced participants’ risk of developing type 2 diabetes independent of weight loss or increased physical activity.

Lead study author Dr Sylvia Ley, PhD said it did not matter if a participant had a good or bad diet starting out an improvement in diet benefited all the participants.

“If you improve other lifestyle factors you reduce your risk for type 2 diabetes even more, but improving diet quality alone has significant benefits,” Dr Ley said.

“This is important because it is often difficult for people to maintain a calorie-restricted diet for a long time. We want them to know if they can improve the overall quality of what they eat consume less red meat and sugar-sweetened beverages, and more fruits, vegetables and whole grains they are going to improve their health and reduce their risk for diabetes.”