Common ground on dietary approaches for the prevention, management, and potential remission of type 2 diabetes can be found, argue Nita G Forouhi and colleagues

Dietary factors are of paramount importance in the management and prevention of type 2 diabetes. Despite progress in formulating evidence based dietary guidance, controversy and confusion remain. In this article, we examine the evidence for areas of consensus as well as ongoing uncertainty or controversy about dietary guidelines for type 2 diabetes. What is the best dietary approach? Is it possible to achieve remission of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle behaviour changes or is it inevitably a condition causing progressive health decline? We also examine the influence of nutrition transition and population specific factors in the global context and discuss future directions for effective dietary and nutritional approaches to manage type 2 diabetes and their implementation.