Anti‐inflammatory Dietary Inflammatory Index Scores Are Associated with Lower Glycemic Index among College Students

Abstract

ObjectiveInflammation is a normal biologic process needed for normal immune, vascular, and endothelial response, but chronic inflammation can be caused from chronic infection and unhealthy lifestyle patterns, such as diet. The dietary inflammatory index was developed to investigate the inflammatory potential of the diet based on the overall inflammatory properties of dietary components. The index classifies an individual's diet on a continuum from maximally anti‐inflammatory to maximally pro‐inflammatory. A majority of the dietary inflammatory index studies has been examined among middle‐aged population, and to date, no dietary inflammatory index has been determined in college students. Furthermore, the association between dietary inflammatory index and commonly used diet quality indices, such as healthy eating index, glycemic index (GI), and glycemic load (GL) is not known in college students. It was hypothesized that the lower dietary inflammatory index scores (the more anti‐inflammatory) are related to higher scores on healthy eating index and lower scores on glycemic index and glycemic load.MethodsUndergraduate students participated in this cross‐sectional study. Dietary information was collected via a 3‐day food diary provided. Dietary inflammatory index, Healthy Eating Index‐2010, GI, and GL were calculated based on a 3‐day food diary collected. Least square means and 95% confidence intervals of the HEI‐2010, GI, and GL were presented per DII tertile using generalized linear mixed models. Pearson correlations were performed for the dietary inflammatory index, HEI‐2010, GI, and GL using the scores as continuous variables.ResultsOne hundred ten participants completed the study. The dietary inflammatory index was related to HEI‐2010 (P<0.001) and GI (P=0.018), but not GL. College students in the lowest dietary inflammatory index tertile had higher scores for the HEI‐2010 than those in the highest dietary inflammatory index tertile (50.7 vs 35.4). In contrast, participants in the dietary inflammatory index tertile 1 had lower scores for the GI than those in the dietary inflammatory index tertile 3 (50.1 vs 54.8). The dietary inflammatory index was negatively correlated with the HEI‐2010 (r= −0.562, P<0.001), but positively correlated with the GI (r = 0.299, P=0.002).ConclusionsThe dietary inflammatory index may be a good tool to use in adopting anti‐inflammatory food and meals. The dietary inflammatory index suggests new directions for nutrition education and dietary approaches for preventing chronic diseases through decreasing systematic inflammation.