Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome (Feb 2024)

High dietary inflammatory index associates with inflammatory proteins in plasma

  • Elisa Mattavelli,
  • Elisa Piperni,
  • Francesco Asnicar,
  • Laura Redaelli,
  • Liliana Grigore,
  • Fabio Pellegatta,
  • Amir Nabinejad,
  • Sabrina Tamburini,
  • Nicola Segata,
  • Alberico Luigi Catapano,
  • Andrea Baragetti

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13098-024-01287-y
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Abstract Background and aim Unhealthy dietary habits and highly caloric foods induce metabolic alterations and promote the development of the inflammatory consequences of obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Describing an inflammatory effect of diet is difficult to pursue, owing lacks of standardized quali-quantitative dietary assessments. The Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) has been proposed as an estimator of the pro- or anti-inflammatory effect of nutrients and higher DII values, which indicate an increased intake of nutrients with pro-inflammatory effects, relate to an increased risk of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases and we here assessed whether they reflect biologically relevant plasmatic variations of inflammatory proteins. Methods In this cross-sectional study, seven days dietary records from 663 subjects in primary prevention for cardiovascular diseases were analyzed to derive the intake of nutrients, foods and to calculate DII. To associate DII with the Normalized Protein eXpression (NPX), an index of abundance, of a targeted panel of 368 inflammatory biomarkers (Olink™) measured in the plasma, we divided the population by the median value of DII (1.60 (0.83–2.30)). Results 332 subjects with estimated DII over the median value reported a higher intake of saturated fats but lower intakes of poly-unsaturated fats, including omega-3 and omega-6 fats, versus subjects with estimated dietary DII below the median value (N = 331). The NPX of 61 proteins was increased in the plasma of subjects with DII > median vs. subjects with DII median (Area Under the Curve = 0.601 (0.519–0.668), p = 0.035). Conclusion This large-scale proteomic study supports that higher DII reflects changes in the plasmatic abundance of inflammatory proteins. Larger studies are warranted to validate.

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