Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition resulting from the interplay between genetic and environmental factors. Diet/nutrition is among the most critical environmental factors affecting the development and progression of type 2 diabetes. Over the past decade, accumulating evidence has suggested that favorable diets are key to the prevention and management of this disease by regulating the disease risk factors, such as two hallmarks of type 2 diabetes (insulin resistance and impaired β-cell function) and obesity. And more recently, commonly used subjective dietary assessment tools, such as food frequency questionnaire, which are prone to recall bias and measurement error, have shifted towards objective assessment measures, such as nutritional biomarkers. These nutritional biomarkers may reflect dietary intake as well as endogenous metabolic processes which promise further insight into the role of diet/nutrition in disease etiology.

Another frontier in type 2 diabetes research is investigating gene-diet interactions. Since the early genome-wide association studies in 2007, hundreds of type 2 diabetes genetic loci have been identified. These findings paved the way to “personalized nutrition” that enables tailored nutritional recommendations based on an individual’s genetic profile.

The purpose of this special issue is to publish high-quality research papers as well as review articles addressing the role of diet/nutrition in the prevention or management of type 2 diabetes or its risk factors. Particularly, we are interested in original research papers related to the relationship between nutritional biomarkers and type 2 diabetes or its risk factors, as well as research contributing to the interplay between diet/nutrition and genetics influencing type 2 diabetes or its risk factors.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Clinical trials for the management of type 2 diabetes risk factors among healthy and high-risk participants or type 2 diabetic patients through dietary modification or nutritional supplements
• Observational studies investigating the role of diet/nutrition, especially nutritional biomarkers, in type 2 diabetes or its risk factors
• Gene-diet interaction studies for type 2 diabetes or its risk factors
• Meta-analyses and systematic reviews of randomized trials or observational studies investigating the influence of diet/nutrition and type 2 diabetes or its risk factors
• Randomization studies to assess the causal association of diet/nutritional biomarkers with type 2 diabetes or its risk factors