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‘Proinflammatory diet’ associated with average yearly weight gain, obesity risk
Healthy adults who consume a diet rich in foods that promote inflammation are more likely to develop overweight or obesity over 10 years when compared with adults who consume an anti-inflammatory diet, according to findings from a study in Spain.
“In this healthy population, the observed effect of proinflammatory diet was small in terms of average yearly weight change, and most incident cases were overweight instead of obesity,” Raul Ramallal, of the department of preventive medicine and public health at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, and colleagues wrote. “However, these results suggest that a proinflammatory diet can be a risk factor prior to the occurrence of overt obesity independently of other potential confounders, such as total energy intake, physical activity, parental history of obesity and baseline weight.”
Ramallal and colleagues analyzed data from 7,027 university graduates without cardiovascular disease, diabetes or cancer participating in the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) cohort, an ongoing, prospective study assessing the determinants of CVD and other chronic diseases. The cohort was followed for a median of 8.1 years (mean age, 37 years; 35% men; mean baseline BMI, 21.9 kg/m²). Participants completed food frequency questionnaires at baseline as well as the dietary inflammatory index (DII), a tool to quantify the inflammatory potential of a diet. The DII is computed using a scoring algorithm based on a review of 28 dietary parameters obtained from the food frequency questionnaire with six inflammatory biomarkers; scores are positive if a diet’s effect is proinflammatory, negative if a diet’s effect is anti-inflammatory, or zero if a diet’s parameters produced no change in inflammatory biomarkers. Researchers used linear regressions models to assess the relationship between the DII and average yearly weight change during follow-up.
During follow-up, researchers observed 1,408 cases of overweight and 24 cases of obesity.
In all models, researchers found that baseline DII score was associated with the risk for developing new-onset overweight or obesity during follow-up. Compared with participants in the lowest DII quartile, those in the highest quartile of DII score had a 32% higher RR for developing overweight or obesity (95% CI, 8-60). A linear dose-response relationship was observed (P = .011); updated DII score and energy intake at 10 years did not change the association, according to the researchers. The HR for those in the highest quartile for DII score (most proinflammatory diet) was 1.32 (95% CI, 1.08-1.6) compared with participants in the lowest quartile (most anti-inflammatory diet).
Absolute yearly weight change (expressed in grams per year) also increased across quartiles of DII score, the researchers noted. After adjustment for multiple factors, including age, sex, baseline BMI, physical activity, sedentary time, special diets at baseline, siesta and snacking between meals, those in the more proinflammatory quartile experienced a mean yearly weight change 57.3 g higher than participants in the lowest quartile.
“Our results reinforce the concept that the anti-inflammatory potential of the overall dietary pattern may have a substantial value in the prevention against inflammation-related conditions, including overweight/obesity,” the researchers wrote. “Further analyses in cohort studies in which participants experienced higher average weight gains and a higher number of obesity incident cases, as well as studies in non-Mediterranean cohorts, are warranted to confirm the association between a proinflammatory diet and overweight and obesity.” – by Regina Schaffer
Disclosure: One researcher reports owning a controlling interest in Connecting Health Innovations LLC; another researcher is an employee of Connecting Health Innovations.