Dietary inflammatory index is associated with lipid profile and interleukin-6 in postmenopausal women: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of diseases associated with chronic inflammation is higher in postmenopausal women. The dietary inflammatory index (DII®) was developed to evaluate the diet-associated inflammation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between the DII score and levels of fasting blood sugar (FBS), lipid profile, and inflammatory biomarkers.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 175 postmenopausal women referred to the southern health centers and health clinics affiliated to the southern municipality of Tehran, Iran. The DII score was calculated using dietary intakes derived from a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Concentrations of FBS, triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were determined. Using linear regression models, we evaluated the association between the DII score and blood biomarkers. Results: After adjustment for covariates, the highest DII score category was associated with higher TG value (bDIIt3vs1= 0.08, p=0.03), TG/HDL-C ratio (bDIIt3vs1= 0.10, p=0.04), and IL-6 concentration (bDIIt3vs1= 0.06, p=0.01) compared to the first category of the DII score. Conclusions: We found a positive association between pro-inflammatory diet and unfavorable biomarkers in postmenopausal women.