Frontiers in Nutrition (May 2022)

Association Between the Children's Dietary Inflammatory Index (C-DII) and Markers of Inflammation and Oxidative Stress Among Children and Adolescents: NHANES 2015-2018

  • Chuang Zhang,
  • Weirui Ren,
  • Meng Li,
  • Wenbo Wang,
  • Chi Sun,
  • Lin Liu,
  • Yanbin Fang,
  • Lin Liu,
  • Xiaofeng Yang,
  • Xiangjian Zhang,
  • Suolin Li

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.894966
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9

Abstract

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ObjectivesTo explore the association of Children's Dietary Inflammatory Index (C-DII) scores with inflammation and markers of inflammatory factors in children and adolescents.MethodsData on dietary nutrient intake, markers of inflammation (ferritin, alkaline phosphatase, C-reactive protein (CRP), absolute neutrophil cell count and lymphocyte count) and oxidative stress (serum bilirubin, albumin, and iron) were available for participants aged 6–19 years (n = 1281). Each participant's C-DII score was calculated based on a 24-h diet and recall. Generalized linear models were applied to examine associations between C-DII and markers of inflammation and oxidative stress, while adjusting for covariates. Restricted cubic splines were used to explore the dose-response association of C-DII scores with indicators of inflammatory oxidative stress. Akaike's Information Criterionwas applied to compare the performance of linear and non-linear models.ResultsAfter adjusting for potential confounders, quantile regression results showed that when comparing C-DII quartile 4 (most pro-inflammatory) and quartile 1 (most anti-inflammatory), lymphocytes, ferritin, CRP were statistically significant differences in serum bilirubin, albumin and serum iron (P < 0.05). The C-DII score showed a non-linear relationship with inflammatory oxidative stress indicators. Overweight/obese children and adolescents who ate a high pro-inflammatory diet were more likely to have higher levels of inflammatory cytokines (P = 0.002).ConclusionsThe dietary inflammatory index in children is associated with markers of chronic inflammation and oxidative stress. A pro-inflammatory diet resulted in increased serum concentrations of these markers, implying that early dietary interventions have implications for reducing chronic inflammation and oxidative stress in children and adolescents.

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