Dietary Inflammatory Index and Inflammatory Biomarkers in Adolescents from LabMed Physical Activity Study

Background/objectives: The dietary inflammatory index (DII) is a tool to measure the diet's inflammatory potential and has been used with adults to predict low-grade inflammation. The present study aims to assess whether this dietary score predicts low-grade inflammation in adolescents.

Subjects/methods: The sample comprises 329 adolescents (55.9% girls), aged 12-18 years, from LabMed Physical Activity Study. DII score was calculated based on a food-frequency questionnaire and categorized into tertiles. We collected blood samples to determine the follow inflammatory biomarkers: C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), complement component 3 (C3), and 4 (C4). In addition we calculated an overall inflammatory biomarker score. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were computed from binary logistic regression models.

Results: DII score, comparing first with third tertile, was positively associated with IL-6 in crude model (OR = 1.88, 95%CI:1.09-3.24, p  = 0.011) and in fully adjusted (for biological and lifestyle variables) (OR = 3.38, 95%CI:1.24-9.20, p  = 0.023). Also, DII score was positively associated with C4, when fully adjusted (OR = 3.12, 95%CI:1.21-8.10, p  = 0.016). DII score was negatively associated with C3 in crude model, comparing first with second but not with third tertile, and no significant associations in fully adjusted model were observed, although a trend was found (OR = 1.71, 95%CI:0.63-4.66, p  = 0.044). No significant associations were observed between DII score and CRP. However, DII score was positively associated with the overall inflammatory biomarker score, when fully adjusted (OR = 5.61, 95%CI:2.00-15.78, p  = 0.002).

Conclusions: DII score can be useful to assess the diet's inflammatory potential and its association with low-grade inflammation in adolescents.