Sticking to a plant-based diet could help lower your risk of type 2 diabetes, CNN reports.

That link between plant-based eating habits and type 2 diabetes is even more beneficial when only healthy plant-based foods -- such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts -- are included in your daily diet, as opposed to refined grains, starches and sugars, according to a new study.

Results were published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

23% reduction of type 2 diabetes risk

We found that eating plant-based diets was associated with, on average, 23% reduction in diabetes risk," said Dr. Qi Sun, an associate professor in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston and senior author of the paper.

The new paper involved reviewing nine previously published studies on plant-based eating habits and type 2 diabetes among adults. Those studies included a total of 23,544 cases of type 2 diabetes.

After reviewing the data in those studies, the researchers found that a higher adherence to a plant-based diet was associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes -- and that was consistent across all age groups and despite a person's body mass index.

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