The Associations between Dairy Product Consumption and Biomarkers of Inflammation, Adipocytokines, and Oxidative Stress in Children: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

The association between dairy product consumption and biomarkers of inflammation, adipocytokines, and oxidative stress is poorly studied in children. Therefore, these associations were examined in a representative subsample of 1338 schoolchildren with a mean age of 11.5 (±0.7) years in the Healthy Growth Study. Information on dairy product consumption was collected by dietary recalls. Total dairy consumption was calculated by summing the intake of milk, yogurt, and cheese. Inflammatory markers, i.e., high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and adipocytokines, i.e., leptin, adiponectin, and the antioxidant enzyme glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were analysed. Due to the skewed distribution hs-CRP, IL-6, and leptin were log transformed. Multivariable regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, energy intake, physical activity, parental education, Tanner stage, and fat mass were used to assess the associations between consumption of total dairy, milk, yogurt, cheese, and markers of inflammation, adipocytokines, oxidative stress, and adiponectin−leptin ratio. Our results showed that milk consumption was inversely associated with leptin (β: −0.101; 95% CI: −0.177, −0.025, p = 0.009) and positively associated with the adiponectin−leptin ratio (β: 0.116; 95% CI: 0.020, 0.211; p = 0.018), while total dairy, cheese, and yogurt consumption were not associated with inflammatory, adipocytokine, or antioxidant markers. Further prospective studies are needed to confirm these results.

Associations of Dietary Intake on Biological Markers of Inflammation in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review

“…Vegetable and/or fruit intake was examined in nine observational studies [ 47 , 59 , 60 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 ], two of which were also discussed in Section 3.2.2 [ 59 , 60 ]. These studies found that high dietary intake of vegetables and/or fruits was associated with lower levels of CRP and IL-6 (both in healthy males and females), TNF-α (only in healthy females), and IL-17F (both male and female patients with asthma).…”

“…Dairy was examined in seven observational studies [ 47 , 60 , 63 , 64 , 67 , 68 , 69 ], six of which were also discussed in Section 3.3.1 [ 47 , 60 , 63 , 64 , 67 , 69 ], and one in Section 3.1.3 [ 47 ]. One study found an association between dairy intake and higher levels of IL-17F in males and females, from a cohort of patients with asthma.…”

“…One study found an association between dairy intake and higher levels of IL-17F in males and females from a cohort of patients with asthma [ 67 ] while a second study found an association between dairy intake and higher levels of IL-6, Il-10 and TGFβ-1 in females, but not in males, and IL-1 in both males and females, and IL-5 in males but not in females in a healthy cohort [ 47 ]. The remaining five studies did not find any associations between dairy intake and CRP and IL-6 in males and females from healthy cohorts [ 60 , 63 , 64 , 68 , 69 ].…”

Cheese, Microbiome and Obesity: A Love Triangle

“…Of note, taxonomic differences of the microbiome of dairy product consumers are modulated by the origin of the milk, but also by the effect of fermentation 33 . Different dairy products were shown to have different effects on in ammatory markers, and consumption of fermented dairy products such as cheese, has been shown to induce a less of an in ammatory response than non-fermented dairy products 34,35 .…”

Can dietary intake protect against low-grade inflammation in children and adolescents?

“…In contrast, results on the association between refined grain intake and inflammatory markers remain inconclusive ( Arouca et al., 2018 ; González-Gil et al., 2016 ; Qureshi et al., 2009 ; Cabral et al., 2018 ). Similarly, dairy was examined in seven observational studies ( Arouca et al., 2018 ; Sanjeevi et al., 2018 ; González-Gil et al., 2016 ; Qureshi et al., 2009 ; Han et al., 2015 ; Cabral et al., 2018 ; Aslam et al., 2020 ), six of which were previously discussed ( Arouca et al., 2018 ; Sanjeevi et al., 2018 ; González-Gil et al., 2016 ; Qureshi et al., 2009 ; Han et al., 2015 ; Cabral et al., 2018 ). While one study found an association between dairy intake and higher levels of IL-17F in males and females, from a cohort of patients with asthma ( Han et al., 2015 ) and a second study found an association between dairy intake and higher levels of IL-6, Il-10 and TGFβ-1 in females, but not in males, and IL-1 in both males and females, and IL-5 in males but not in females in a healthy cohort ( Arouca et al., 2018 ) the majority of studies did not find any associations with inflammatory biomarkers ( Arouca et al., 2018 ; Sanjeevi et al., 2018 ; González-Gil et al., 2016 ; Qureshi et al., 2009 ; Han et al., 2015 ; Cabral et al., 2018 ).…”